Sky & Telescope - October 2021 - 6

ECLIPSED SUN: MAURICE SNOOK; HALLEY'S
COMET: WAYNE WOOTEN
FROM OUR READERS
Two Annular Eclipses
p The eclipsed Sun sets into the Pacific
Ocean on January 4, 1992.
Joe Rao's " June's Sunrise Annular Eclipse " (S&T: June 2021, p. 34) reminded me of
1992's sunset annular eclipse. An article in Sky & Telescope (S&T: Jan. 1992, p. 78)
about how spectacular it would be from southern California spurred me to view
it. My son and I observed it from a strawberry field overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
The day before was rainy, but the day of the eclipse dawned bright and sunny with a
clear blue sky from morning through afternoon, including most of the way through
the partial phase. Then, out of nowhere, clouds began forming out over the ocean,
hiding the Sun. The band of clouds was so long that moving north or south did
not produce a clear view. But just before annularity occurred, the clouds thinned
briefly. We did not witness the complete ring, as the clouds thickened again shortly
after, but what we saw made the trip worth it.
Maurice Snook * Athens, Georgia
Memories of Comet Halley
Like Joe Rao, I, too, doubt that I will
make it for the next return of Halley's
Comet (S&T: July 2021, p. 58). For
more than 20 years at Pensacola State
College, I had my students use a program
called Sky Map XP to calculate its
return in 2061 as part of a lab assignment.
Their predictions were much in
line with the chart on page 64 of that
issue. My older son, Michael Eric Wooten,
was four years old when he took
his first photo of the comet on December
30, 1985, as it moved through the
head of Aquarius. If he lives to be just
80, he may be one of the few people to
photograph Halley's Comet during two
successive returns. Thanks for calling
attention to this event. It is indeed
something to live for!
On a sad note, my wife, Merry
Edenton-Wooten, whose STEM Spyglasses
were featured in Jerry Oltion's
Astronomer's Workbench column
(S&T: July 2020, p. 74), will not make
it to 2061. She died of Alzheimer's
disease on March 27, 2021.
She was the Executive Secretary of
the Astronomical League from 1986-
92, the critical years when it transitioned
to computers. Merry won the G.
R. Wright Service Award in 1989, and
I won the Astronomical League Award
in 2010, making us the only couple to
win the League's two highest awards.
She also operated Draco Productions,
selling copier-lens telescope kits and
Baader solar filters, until her health
failed in 2019.
Wayne Wooten
Pensacola, Florida
p Michael Wooten took this image of Halley's
Comet in 1985 when he was four years old.
6 OCTOBER 2021 * SKY & TELESCOPE
I thoroughly enjoyed Joe Rao's article
on the historical apparitions of Comet
Halley. It has been 40 years since my
colleague Tao Kiang and I traced the
motion of this comet backward in time
using a mainframe computer and all
the available positional data - including
those from the ancient Chinese
astronomers. In April 1986, my daughter,
Sarah, and I viewed the comet from
an aircraft, and since Sarah was only
12 years old at the time, she hopes to
be a Comet Halley two-timer in 2061.
Don Yeomans
Rochester, New York
I just read Joe Rao's fascinating article
on Halley's Comet. Strangely enough,
this week I was writing a chapter of my
next book and mentioned my memories
of seeing Halley from Las Campanas
Observatory in Chile as a young
PhD student.
After the disappointment of Comet
Kohoutek (C/1973 E1) when I was
10 years old, seeing the edge of Halley's
tail rise, long before its coma and
nucleus, over the Andes was aweinspiring!
I spent some time at the
telescope observing it with a polarimeter
and later published a paper based
on the data. But seeing it with my eyes
was certainly one of the most intense
moments of my life!
Laurent Drissen
Québec City, Québec
Stellar Fireworks
I went out with my 4-inch (102-mm)
refractor on July 4th to do a little
stargazing while all the fireworks were
going off. (They are legal in West
Virginia.) Well, I was panning through
Cygnus looking at open clusters when I
happened across the Patriotic Trio. It's
Sky & Telescope - October 2021

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