Comet McNaught Tales
Comet McNaught made a spectacular entrance to the night sky in January 2007.
Long long ago in
space far far away a big snowy dirt ball headed for the inner solar system.
and then ...
McNaught was supposed to be first visible on the 14th so off to the Crago Observatory I and others from ASNSW went.
The sunset was great but there was one patch of cloud in the whole sky ... right where the comet was.
We tried anyway and vowed to come back.
An impressive array of equipment and observing styles.
On the
15th we
finally spotted it naked aye although now it was heavily obscured by smoke from
bush fires.
Download a short low quality movie through my binoculars from
this link
On the
16th I
joined the crew at Sydney Observatory and we were treated to a wonderful sight.
A beautiful naked eye comet over the Anzac bridge.
Click on the image above for a larger version.
If you don't like that colour how about this one (Photoshop magic).
Click on the image above for a larger version.
Download a short low quality movie through my binoculars from this link
On the 17th it was cloudy so I didn't get to see the comet.
On the 18th I was in Newcastle and I didn't have a very good western horizon so I didn't take any pictures but did have a good look through binoculars. As the comet moves further into the night sky it is getting much more visible away from the glare of the Sun.
On the 19th, WOW, what a sight, with the comet extending way up into the night sky. Awesome!
Click on the image above for a larger version.
In this image you can see the amazing dust tail curving up to the right as the comet moves to the left and away from the Sun. It appears there are outbursts of dust causing the dust tail to vary in brightness along it's length.
Click on the image above for a larger version.
On the 20th I didn't have a very good western horizon but did manage the image below.
Click on the image above for a larger version.
On the 21st it was cloudy ... again :(
On the 22nd the clouds frustrated my efforts but I did manage one shot from the footpath in Enmore. Many passing people enjoyed the comet through my binoculars in the gaps in the clouds.
Click on the image above for a larger version.
On the 23rd those pesky water nebulae (clouds) spoiled the show again :(
To be continued
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