Astronomical story of a life time

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

My Comet saga

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

The current Eclipse of the Moon activity had prompted Tony Hadley to post his pictures of the event on Facebook……..I spotted them and they reminded me of my exciting comet story, back in 1993 and 1994

Unfortunately, my story does not have a happy ending and at the time was quite stressful

After buying my daughter a small telescope for Christmas 1987 I was hooked on Astronomy almost immediately!…..Had to have a real one! Actually drove all the way from Manchester to Bedford to order a 10" Reflecting telescope!….That's how keen I was!

With six weeks delivery and having foolishly paid money up front, I built a rather posh Observatory, about 9'-0" dia with rotating dome, of course

Continued

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Photo of the Observatory, looking a little worse for wear in 1994

The six week delivery came and went………No telescope

After numerous phone calls with no answer……Alarm bells began to ring!

Drove down to Bedford, to find the shop had closed!

Wrote a letter to Astronomy Now Magazine, which the scope maker had used and surprise surprise……Got a reply back from Patrick Moore!…….He was the Editor in Chief

He liked my observatory and I was invited to submit the build story  for publication!

He had typed the letter himself on the crudest typewriter you could imagine!

He was most sympathetic with my hard luck story and promised to look into it

About a week later, a rather sheepish scope maker came on the phone!

There were no hard feelings, he was a nice polite chap called, Phil S, and agreed to finish the scope and the scope arrived within a few weeks……Nice?

Bob

Edited By Bob Abell on 22/03/2015 09:49:49

[Tony HadleyParticipant @tonyhadley]

Bob,

Your observatory looks excellent and the build would have been well worthy of publication. What a relief it must have been when the telescope arrived. Nowadays, best to buy on credit card for protection against these kind of things happening.

The problem with astronomy is to see interesting things happening, they always seem to occur when it is in the cold winter months or in the middle of the night at some untimely hour. Better to build and service model boats in the warmth with a cuppa! My telescope isn't very large, only a small Meade refractor, which gives reasonable views of the moon's surface and I can just see the red spot on Jupiter.

Here is the photograph which brought back the memories – the partial eclipse from NW England, taken directly with the camera, some cloud obscuration but still interesting.

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Tony

I am constantly amazed at the knowledge of the professional astronomers, that they can predict the position, by calculation, of every astronomical event that occurs in space!

They can forecast the next Eclipse of the Sun and Moon, the transit of Venus, the position of every planet at any minute of the future……the return of comets to the nearest minute etc

Even Haley predicted the return of his comet, in Victorian times, which was 77 years!

Just take a look at the Sunrise and Sunset times, published and all the other nonsense concerning Moonrise and Moonset

It is all laid out to the nearest minute…….Awesome and truly amazing?

Sorry to bore you all……Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

The telescope was mounted on a tall plinth and it was great fun climbing up the ladder to reach the eyepiece, about 7 foot up

Had a good selection of lens`s and filters to play with too

Observing the Moon was very impressive, the craters etc were eye scorchingly bright, which called for a dark filter, and was alway`s the visitors favourite….As was Saturn with it`s rings and Jupiter with it`s nine moons……..Mars was a novelty due to it`s bright orange colour

Unfortunately, the bright lights of Manchester had a detrimental effect on deep space viewing.

It was also great fun sighting on a distant target, from the ground, as without the sight, it would have been very difficult to find the intended image…….As the slightest tap on the scope, would cause the target to disappear completely!

It must have taken me a couple of year`s to spot the Crab Nebula…..And I never saw it again!

The modern scopes of today, are fitted with a sort of Sat Nav device, where the intended target is simply typed into a keyboard and the scope traverses to that exact position

The next few years were spent, seeking out the famous Galaxies, Nebula`s, clusters and the magazine hot spots of the month etc

The most impressive Nebula was in the Orion constellation, titled M42 and is part of the Hunters Scabbard

I often sought out Hercules (M15)…….Dumbell Nebula….. Ring Nebula…. M31 in Andromeda…. Saturn…. Jupiter…….Venus and many more…….Saw the snowcaps on Mars with it`s famous canals etc

I spent ten years of observing, (1988 to 1998) but it was never boring, since the Astro sights were so awesome and quite difficult to spot at times

Now………Getting to the main topic of my thread…..We`ll go to March 18th 1993 20.00pm

It`s important to be aware that on this particular day, I had not been in the observatory for three months, this is an important point

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

C'mon Bob, we're all on the edge of our seats – what happened next?

Colin

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

March 15th 1993…..20.00pm

We were sitting in the lounge at 8.00 pm and my wife spotted a bright star in the South West……They are all "stars" to wifey

"That star looks a bit different tonight, my love"……She said

"Better have a look, you`ve not been out there, for some time"

"OK, my love"…..I groaned……As it was rather cold out there in March

Opened up the Obs and hatch etc…..Spotted it….Climbed up…..Peered through the eye piece

Groan….."Just as I thought…..It`s only Jupiter"

Having gone to all this trouble, I decided to explore the area and see if I could spot any more moons, apart from the usual four

I carefully oscilated the scope from side to side………..No more moons……….Then spotted the Astronomers dream!………A Comet!……Complete with long streaming tail"……WOW!

I can remember the exact historic moment…..22 years ago!………I simply gave a wry smile and muttered something about turning my back for a few weeks and I could have missed this momentous event!

Of course I had to get the wife out and the little dog Lucy to come and see Abell`s Comet

Lots of OooooS and Arrrrrrs!…..Phone calls etc…..When all the fuss had died down, I did something I`d never done before……I made an "on the spot sketch" for no reason really

Having not been observing for a couple of months, I was completely out of touch with the outside world and thought nothing of it. Being very excited, I decided to phone my friendly telescope maker, Phil S, just to talk about it. Unfortunately, he wasn`t answering that night…….

THIS WAS MY MOMENT OF DISASTER!……….But completely unaware of it at the time

To report a comet discovery, you need to have an independent partner, living a considerable distance away and go through an official rigmarole……..Even though I wasn`t even thinking about reporting it

The "On the spot" sketch of the observation…..

The phone numbers and addesses were added the next day

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Hello Colin

I'm very pleased that you are enjoying my Star Wars thriller!

The best is yet to come!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Remember me talking about the amazing Astro calcs and facts and figures etc?

With the right PC software, it is still possible to retrace my comet story, from start to finish!

Truly amazing

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

I went to work the next day, full of Comet thoughts……Told everybody who would listen!

Later, I thought I'd try and find out the name of the comet, so I phoned the Astronomy Now magazine

The Editor answered……."Can you tell me the name of the comet near Jupiter please?"…..I asked

Long pause…….."There's no comet near Jupiter, Sir, as far as we know"

Pah! I said to myself……"Typical"…….and didn't persue the matter any further

I showed the comet to my brother and the grown up children over the next few days

The comet was visible for several months……Well into May…..Time passed…..Zzzzzzzzzz

It later transpired that the comet was discovered by Shoemaker and Levy in America

Some time later, can't recall when, the media was full of the Comet Story, when the Comet crashed into Jupiter

The news was full of it and I found it all fascinating , especially since I'd seen it myself

Fast forward to July 16th 1994….A documentary was on the telly, describing the fully story, since it was such a big event……What a super programme, I thought!

The commentator mentioned that the comet was discovered by Shoemakers wife, by taking a photograph of the night sky and comparing the results with a known data base…..Simple, eh?

The date was March 25th 1993

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

I sat there bewitched and enthralled at this super exciting story…..Whoopee!

Then something clicked in my head………Hmmmmmmm……March the 25th? hey?……….More hmmmmmm

I have always kept a day to day diary since 1977, so I got out my diary for 1993, just to see how close I was to Shoemakers discovery

As you must have realised by now…….I`d beaten him by a week!…..My date was March 18th!

I sat there stunned in disbelief and totally disappointed, when it sank in….I realised that I was the first man in the world to see the comet!……And didn`t know it!

What a tragic blow it was when Phil S didn`t answer his phone!

The shock of it all, upset me for weeks after that, as you can imagine

Below is the proof of Shoemakers date of discovery and a picture of my relevant diaries

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

I decided to contact The British Astronomical Society, just to let them know my story and received a reply, from an expert, telling me that I couldn`t have seen the comet!

How he worked out my so called erroneous settings from my quick rough sketch, is beyond me!…….All I know, is that we saw the Abell Comet!

The story now comes full circle……..The expert was actually on BBC1, in charge of last weeks Eclipse spectacular!

Below is the letter in question

I hope you found my story interesting, chaps?

I would appreciate any comments or questions you may wish to make

Bob

Edited By Bob Abell on 23/03/2015 17:23:08

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

A very interesting story Bob, many thanks for posting it.

I was in Lyme Regis on Friday and although it was misty I managed to get some decent photos of the eclipse. Back in 1999, my Daughter and I were on the downs at the back of Chichester, Sussex and had a grand view of the eclipse then and took photos too.

When I was a kid I remember reading about the impending 1999 eclipse and it seemed to be impossibly far in the future. Now of course it is 16 years in the past! Where did the time go?

As the regrettably late Terry Pratchett once pointed out 'inside every old person there is a young person wondering what happened!'.

Colin

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Bob

Fascinating is there no end to your expertise and is there any hobby that you aren't proficient in.

Colin

I never took you for a Disk disciple.

Paul

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Colin……In 1999 I used to produce an Abell Gazette for the family

It was full of family snippets, holiday snaps and anything of interest……..One such item was the 1999 Eclipse!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Thank you, Paul and Colin

The Comet story was 1993 and 1994……….Guess what?

The Web wasn`t invented then……..But it is now!

Just been looking at the subject and all the evidence is now there, for all to see

Don`t fancy opening Pandora`s box again……So I`ll pass on more mither for now

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Because I assumed my story was of not much interest to the readers, I ended the story a bit prematurely

I also contacted Fred Talbot on TV Granada, as I knew he was into Arstronomy, but he couldn`t believe the comet would be visible all Summer, "Comets move, you know"…..so he pooh poohed the idea!

Also spoke to Jodrell Bank……….They said my story was impossible!

Last but not least. the local rag found out and called round for a story and a laugh, no doubt

Here`s the picture…

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Read 'em all Paul, right from the start. Terry Pratchett was a very humorous writer and an acute observer of the human condition. He was also born in the same year as me.

Bob, a lot of people who discovered things didn't get the credit – just unfortunate really but at least you can comfort yourself with the truth.

Plus, if the comet had been equipped with Abell Drives it might have avoided a sticky end by missing Jupiter altogether. (Might have hit us instead though

Colin

[ChrisBParticipant @chrisb29081]

Wow, fascinating story.

Chris

[mike farrellParticipant @mikefarrell21522]

As I,ve said somewhere before I,m amazed at the varying skills you possess .I can imagine you have little time for tv as your time is taken up with so many differing thoughts.

Sitting quietly and all of a sudden you are off on another excursion ,so that's what keeps you so young .Keep going my friend and keep us all entertainedMichael

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Many thanks, Michael for your kind words

You obviously share my eccentric sense of humour and pleased that you enjoy the friendly banter

I think Paul eggs me on, on purpose!

Bob

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Found this on the net

The comet must have been visible well before I saw it

When I saw the comet, it looked like a streaming tail, but it was actually breaking up!

[Bob Abell 2Participant @bobabell2]

Did you know that our Dave Wooley was once a keen Astronomer?

Just had a few PM's from him

He was a member of Liverpool Astro Society where the club actually did important work for NASA

They were involved in doing precision sketches of certain areas of the Moon's surface……Pending a Moon landing!…….Wow!

And did you also know that Colin Bishop is interested in Astronomy too and may have a few Eclipse pictures to show us

Bob

[Geoff RoyleParticipant @geoffroyle15964]

Hi Bob, What an interesting thread, but sadly a painful reminder of our past tribulations. The 'new' diagram above showing the pre-discovery break-up of the comet was only possible due to the 'patrol' archive of the professional Schmidt cameras. I am very glad that our fellow MB members allow so much slack when we drift off-topic. For the benefit of those who don't recognise me, I have known Bob since we were engineering apprentices together 62 years ago. Long may he reign

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