Hale-Bopp comet to be visible

BANDUNG, West Java: Indonesians will be able to see the C/1995 01 Hale-Bopp comet from April until June, Antara quoted a local expert as saying Saturday.

"The first two weeks of April will be the best time to view the comet because people can see it with the naked eye," said Moedji Rahartos, the chairman of the astronomy department of the Bandung Institute of Technology.

The comet could be observed in the west after sunset, about 40 degrees north of the spot where the sun had gone down, he said.

In regions south of the equator, like Indonesia, people could see the comet with the naked eye or through telescopes, he said at the Bosscha Observatory in Lembang.

Between April and June, the Hale-Bopp comet, which had an orbit of 2,000 to 4,000 years, would be visible for only between 20 minutes and an hour on cloudless nights, he added.