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Re: Planet X: Viewing WHEN?


Prior to this year, when a campaign to get you to look TOO EARLY was put
into motion by Open/Closed Minded, we heard from astronomers that Fall
is the earliest to look at the location the inbound Planet X is coming
from, especially given that it is not a star, with an intense pin-point
of light, being a smoldering brown dwarf, and diffuse, such that unless
it were well above the horizon, well past the astronomical dawn, it
would NOT be visible.

Steve Havas was told that he should expect to look no earlier
     than FALL for his object, when he was at Gordon Macmillan
    Southam observatory in Vancouver in April, 2001.

Jeff wrote in message <aesq3u$b9v$1@license1.unx.sas.com>
    > As for darkness, you START losing that at around 2:59am, or
    > basically 3:00am.  So after 3am, you skies will start getting
    > brighter.  If your mythical Planet X did exist, it would not be
    > visible (unless it's as bright as Venus or something) since it
    > would rise at around 4:38am. And I wouldn't use M31 as a
    > comparison since it is very large and has it's brightness spread
    > out over a large area.  If you can provide the angular size and
    > magnitude of your mythical object, I'm sure there are some
    > out here that could calculate when such an object would
    > be visible for your area.

Ric states in <M%GQ8.4655$RY1.95424@newsfep1-win.server.ntli.net>
    Although nautical twilight is still not that dark. We just get to
    nautical twilight in the UK at this time of year - the Sun gets to
    a minimum altitude of 12.4( below the horizon tonight. The sky
    is still visibly dark blue. It looks kind of like the sky does when
    the Moon is full. I've taken a 5 minute exposure under this light.
    It looks as though it was taken in broad daylight.

David Tholen stated in
    <M0q_6.19254$WI.6127884@typhoon.hawaii.rr.com> when
    Charlene stated she was looking for Planet X in the pre-dawn
    on July 1, 2001:
    > How does one point an alarm in the direction of Orion,
    > and why would you do it at night?  At night, Orion is
    > currently below the horizon.  Orion is up during the
    > daytime, just south of the Sun.

Thus, the Viewing Specs with new ZetaTalk coordinates will NOT be
forthcoming until mid-September, 2002, as that is the earliest, given
light pollution and the cowardice of the self-appointed leadership of
amateurs being encouraged to look for a diffuse brown dwarf in the light
polluted pre-dawn and CLOSE to the horizon.  Open/Closed Minded can
twittle with himself, until that time, regarding where to look.  Please
note HIS coordinates are NOT the ZetaTalk coordinates.