Use the table below to pick the best times to observe Comet Hyakutake. In general, the best times are after about midnight, but before the Moon rises. Note that the times are so-called military time: Subtract 12 from times over 12 to get p.m.. For example, 13:00:00 is 1 p.m.In the table, Az. is azimuth, or compass point, at which the Moon rises (90 is east, 270 is west); Alt. is altitude in degrees above the horizon; and d,h,m, x are date, hour, minutes, and degrees, respectively.
(Transit, by the way, refers to the time when the Moon crosses the meridian, the imaginary north-south line in the sky. Like moonset, it mostly occurs during daylight hours during the period in question, and isn't too important for our purposes.)
Date Rise Az. Transit Alt. Set Az.
d h m ø d h m ø d h m ø
1996 Mar 12 (Tue) 12 00:47 114 12 05:53 31S 12 10:59 245
1996 Mar 13 (Wed) 13 01:45 114 13 06:51 31S 13 11:58 246
1996 Mar 14 (Thu) 14 02:38 113 14 07:49 32S 14 13:03 248
1996 Mar 15 (Fri) 15 03:27 110 15 08:46 35S 15 14:10 252
1996 Mar 16 (Sat) 16 04:11 106 16 09:42 38S 16 15:20 257
1996 Mar 17 (Sun) 17 04:51 100 17 10:37 43S 17 16:29 263
1996 Mar 18 (Mon) 18 05:28 94 18 11:29 47S 18 17:38 269
1996 Mar 19 (Tue) 19 06:04 88 19 12:21 52S 19 18:46 275
1996 Mar 20 (Wed) 20 06:39 83 20 13:11 56S 20 19:51 280
1996 Mar 21 (Thu) 21 07:15 77 21 14:02 60S 21 20:55 285
1996 Mar 22 (Fri) 22 07:53 73 22 14:51 64S 22 21:56 289
1996 Mar 23 (Sat) 23 08:32 69 23 15:41 66S 23 22:54 292
1996 Mar 24 (Sun) 24 09:15 67 24 16:30 68S 24 23:47 294
1996 Mar 25 (Mon) 25 10:00 66 25 17:18 68S 26 00:37 294
1996 Mar 26 (Tue) 26 10:48 66 26 18:06 68S 27 01:22 294
1996 Mar 27 (Wed) 27 11:39 67 27 18:53 67S 28 02:04 292
1996 Mar 28 (Thu) 28 12:32 69 28 19:39 65S 29 02:41 289
1996 Mar 29 (Fri) 29 13:27 73 29 20:25 62S 30 03:16 285
1996 Mar 30 (Sat) 30 14:24 77 30 21:10 59S 31 03:49 281
1996 Mar 31 (Sun) 31 15:22 82 31 21:55 55S 01 04:21 276
1996 Apr 1 (Mon) 01 16:21 87 01 22:40 51S 02 04:52 270
1996 Apr 2 (Tue) 02 17:22 92 02 23:27 47S 03 05:25 265
1996 Apr 4 (Thu) 03 18:24 98 04 00:15 42S 04 05:59 260
1996 Apr 5 (Fri) 04 19:28 103 05 01:05 38S 05 06:36 255
1996 Apr 6 (Sat) 05 20:33 108 06 01:57 35S 06 07:17 250
1996 Apr 7 (Sun) 06 21:38 112 07 02:52 33S 07 08:03 247
1996 Apr 8 (Mon) 07 22:41 114 08 03:49 31S 08 08:55 246
1996 Apr 9 (Tue) 08 23:40 115 09 04:46 31S 09 09:53 246
1996 Apr 10 (Wed) 10 00:35 114 10 05:44 32S 10 10:55 247
1996 Apr 11 (Thu) 11 01:25 111 11 06:41 34S 11 12:01 251
Greg Walz-Chojnackigwc@csd.uwm.edu