Use Starry Night Enthusiast™ software to observe several comets. (a) Change the date in the toolbar to March 22, 1997 and click the Stop button to stop time flow. Change the viewing location to either the North or South Pole by selecting Options Viewing Location. . . from the menu. This is the date of the equinox and the Sun is somewhere on the horizon. Open the Find pane and expand the Comets list. Locate Comet Hale-Bopp in the expanded list and double-click on it. Zoom in (if necessary) until you can see the comet and its tail. Predict in what direction the Sun is located relative to the comet and explain how you made your prediction. To verify your hypothesis, use Find Sun to locate it. Were you correct? (b) Using the Comet List again, double-click on the name of another visible comet to center on it, but do not zoom in. Then move the sky with the hand cursor and locate the Sun. From your observations, predict the direction of the comet’s tail on the sky, and explain how you made your prediction. Center again on the comet and zoom in until you can see its tail. (If this comet does not have a visible tail, repeat this part with yet another comet.) Was your prediction correct?
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