Comet!

[pameladean]

It's been either moony or cloudy or, sometimes, both at once, since I first had Comet Holmes called to my attention. This evening I went out with the birdwatching binoculars. I'd planned to be sure of the comet's location by finding Cassiopeia and the Pleiades, but although it's not exactly cloudy, the stars aren't very bright. I had a bit of trouble even with Cassiopeia, and couldn't find the Pleiades at all. But there was a bright star more or less in the right place to be Mirfak, the really bright star in Perseus, so I just found it in the binoculars and looked a little to its left, and the comet popped right out. It was, with those binoculars and under those conditions, just a round yellowish blur, but I was still very happy to see it.

P.

P.S. Why does the LJ spell-checker know "Mirfak" but not "Pleiades"?

Comments

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

Ooh! I read about this and really wanted to see it. I wonder how long it will be appearing before.

I don't know what it is, but I love comets.

[pameladean]

About another three weeks in its current position. Because of Cassiopeia and Mirfak (and usually the Pleiades), it's pretty easy to find. Perseus is in the northeast and rises higher as the evening goes on. But the next few days are a good time to try, because today is the new moon. Once the moon gets bright, it's going to really wash things out. I know because I tried to see the comet when it was actually brighter than it is now, but I kept getting out there after moonrise and couldn't find the comet at all.

P.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

Thanks! (Also, I see I cleverly edited "before it fades" to just "before", above. Erf.)

[pameladean]

So you did. I seem to have inserted it when I read the comment. 8-)

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I'm Mirfaked if I know.

[pameladean]

*snort*

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

One can make a great Pleiades puns.

[pameladean]

*choke*

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

It seems I hit the target in the Centauri.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Shouldn't Comet Holmes be accompanied by Comet Watson?

[pameladean]

It is, but Comet Watson is behind it and very, very dim.

P.

[(Anonymous)]

Elementary!

[clindau.livejournal.com]

ow. ow ow ow. Also, *splork*

[pameladean]

Yeah, me too.

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Splork?

[pameladean]

It's a term we got from Usenet, one of many used to respond to a pun when making another pun doesn't seem to be doable at the moment. I think it's roughly the sound of somebody spitting out a beverage, but not severely enough to invoke remarks about being owed a new keyboard.

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. Was it in use in the rec.arts.sf hierarchy? I was never much on that in the days I was on Usenet.

[pameladean]

Hmmm, clindau and I were on alt.support.menopause together, but I'd have used it anywhere I posted. That was mostly to rasfc, and I don't really know if anybody else picked it up. There were a lot of other similar terms in use too.

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

That last, I know. I was mostly on alt.flame and soc.culture.british back in the late 80s/early 90s.

[pameladean]

I was on the late lamented Fidonet in the late eighties and early nineties, and didn't really hit Usenet in any sustained way until Fidonet went under.

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I was on Fidonet too. We seem to be giving away our ages (I got my first 300 bps modem in 1985.)

[pameladean]

Well, I guess we do, but I can't say I'm really exercised about it. 8-)

What echoes did you participate in, if any? I did SF, WRITING, and MYSTERY. I had a brief horrific stint as the moderator of SF.

David is the one who keeps track of hardware, so I'm not sure when we had what kinds of access. I had a web browser on my computer for months before I actually tried to use it, though.

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I was mostly on political ones at the time.

I have just been struck by the thought that my then wife and I bought our first computer in August 1985, just after our first child was born. Said child is now graduated from college. Where did the years go?

[pameladean]

I know, there's something creepy about it. David and I got our first personal computer in 1983, but we were kind of pushing it. He worked for DEC, and it was a DEC Rainbow. I wrote two or three books on it, and if those books were children they too would have graduated from college.

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Creepy is the word.

Does DEC still exist?

[clindau.livejournal.com]

I think I saw Comet Holmes last week in the morning when I went out to get a newspaper. I thought at first that the smudge I saw was contrails from (or) an airplane reflected in the early sunrise, but when it was still the same size and in the same place as before on my return from getting a paper, I figured it must have been the comet. I haven't seen it in the morning since (the return to CST means the sun is already up when I'm out on my paper run). I should look for it tonight.

[pameladean]

Do post if you see it! I hope it's not too cloudy. I went out last night because the forecast looked so obstructive, and it wasn't nearly as cloudy as they said it was right then.

P.

[bunsen-h.livejournal.com]

Why does the LJ spell-checker know "Mirfak" but not "Pleiades"?

Maybe they included "Eye of Argon" when they built the dictionary?

[(Anonymous)]

perhaps they prefer a Messier spelling

[pameladean]

Eye of Argon has only that kind of spelling, really.

P.