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Press, 16 April 1986, Page 2

The position of Hailey’s Comet, and prominent stars, are plotted for 10 p.m. today on the diagram prepared by the physics department of the University of Canterbury. The comet will then be 69deg. above the horizon and 92deg. from north. (East is 90deg., south is 180 deg., and west is 270 deg.)

The upper asterisk represents the point directly overhead (90deg. above the horizon). The lower asterisk is the position of the South Celestial Pole, 45deg. above the southern horizon.

At midnight the diagram should be tilted so that the dotted curved line becomes the horizon. The comet and stars would have rotated 30deg. to the west about the South Celestial Pole.

The diagram represents a hemisphere. When facing south, the point marked north falls behind the viewer; east is on the left and west is on the right.

When viewed from Christchurch at midnight, the comet will be 319 deg. from north and 86deg. above the horizon. At 2 a.m. it will be 265 deg. from north at an altitude of 64deg. and at 4 a.m. will be 251 deg. from north and 42deg. above the horizon. At 6.03 a.m. the comet will have moved to 236 deg. from north and dropped to 22deg. above the horizon. The sky will begin to brighten from then. Co-ordinates for Nelson, Ashburton and Greymouth are similar and should be reached a few minutes later than those given for Christchurch.