Monday, January 15, 2007
Comet 2006/P1 McNaught Visible in Daylight.
Comet McNaught has been reported to be visible in daylight with the unaided eye. See Spaceweather for an amazing image of this comet in daylight. Magnitudes have been reported from -3 (less bright that Venus) t0 -4 and -5 (much brighter than Venus). This bodes well for Australians (and Southern hemisphereians generally) seeing this comet from Monday 15th Jan on.
This animation (image credit, SOHO/NASA) shows McNaught entering the field of view of the SOHO LASCO C3 camera, Mercury is the bright obect at the bottom, and comet McNaught is, well, pretty obvious. The vertical strips are artefacts of light saturating the instrument. The bottom line is that the comet is bright.
Image Credit STEREO/NASA
This is reenforced by the appearance of the comet in the STEREO a cameras, the image is greatly saturated, the comet head doesn't look like a comet head at all (more like a hammer head). Again, Mercury shows up as a spike at the bottom of the image. A better image from the STEREO b cameras is here. For some stunning images taken from Earth, see this brilliant image from Italy, taken as the sun was setting. The Spaceweather gallery has many images of the comet. The Bad Astromomer has a cool video, though he looks a bit daggy. Here is another good image from Italy, some great shots from Germany, sunset shots from San Deigo, (and here as well), another terrific shot from the USA, and one from Germany.
Okay, what about seeing the comet yourself, Well, first you will need a clear, level western horizon (no cvlouds is good too). Start looking about 20 minutes after the Sun has set (this is around 9 pm eastern daylight svaing time, look to the left of due east by about two handspans and you will see bright Venus. Look left again ny two hands soans, and down by one handspan, and you should see the comet as a tiny dot of light just 4 fingerwidths above the horizon. You may need to search a bit for the comet to "pop" out at you, and you will find that binoculars will help locate the comet in the first place. The chart at the side has due east as its rightmost edge. Another, printable spotting map is here. But the one to the left shows about all the stars you will see (Neptune, you won't see, an issue with Sky Map)
Good luck looking for the comet, the brightest in 30 years!
This animation (image credit, SOHO/NASA) shows McNaught entering the field of view of the SOHO LASCO C3 camera, Mercury is the bright obect at the bottom, and comet McNaught is, well, pretty obvious. The vertical strips are artefacts of light saturating the instrument. The bottom line is that the comet is bright.
Image Credit STEREO/NASAThis is reenforced by the appearance of the comet in the STEREO a cameras, the image is greatly saturated, the comet head doesn't look like a comet head at all (more like a hammer head). Again, Mercury shows up as a spike at the bottom of the image. A better image from the STEREO b cameras is here. For some stunning images taken from Earth, see this brilliant image from Italy, taken as the sun was setting. The Spaceweather gallery has many images of the comet. The Bad Astromomer has a cool video, though he looks a bit daggy. Here is another good image from Italy, some great shots from Germany, sunset shots from San Deigo, (and here as well), another terrific shot from the USA, and one from Germany.
Okay, what about seeing the comet yourself, Well, first you will need a clear, level western horizon (no cvlouds is good too). Start looking about 20 minutes after the Sun has set (this is around 9 pm eastern daylight svaing time, look to the left of due east by about two handspans and you will see bright Venus. Look left again ny two hands soans, and down by one handspan, and you should see the comet as a tiny dot of light just 4 fingerwidths above the horizon. You may need to search a bit for the comet to "pop" out at you, and you will find that binoculars will help locate the comet in the first place. The chart at the side has due east as its rightmost edge. Another, printable spotting map is here. But the one to the left shows about all the stars you will see (Neptune, you won't see, an issue with Sky Map)Good luck looking for the comet, the brightest in 30 years!
Labels: C/2006 P1 McNaught
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 12:05 am 
Comments:
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My son & I saw comet McNaught from our backyard in Bendigo Sunday evening (Jan 14) just after sunset through smoke haze. I saw it through binoculars only & my son with unaided eye, after first finding it with the binoculars. I got some very fuzzy washed out pictures due the haze, bright twilight & low to horizon. I hope for better this evening if the smoke haze from the eastern Victorian bush fires clears. The comet head is very bright & a faint short tail was visible.
# posted by 
: 7:39 am
: 7:39 am
Hi there Ian!
Do you know what date the comet will be at its brightest?
Also would an Adelaide beach be a good viewing spot?
Thankyou,
Dylan
Do you know what date the comet will be at its brightest?
Also would an Adelaide beach be a good viewing spot?
Thankyou,
Dylan
# posted by : 2:40 pm
: 2:40 pm
G'Day Chris
The comet was (probably) at its brightest on the 13th. However, the orientation was very unfavorable for viewing. Tonight is the best night (but tommorow will be good, as will the day after).
An Adelaide beach, facing west, would be ideal.
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The comet was (probably) at its brightest on the 13th. However, the orientation was very unfavorable for viewing. Tonight is the best night (but tommorow will be good, as will the day after).
An Adelaide beach, facing west, would be ideal.
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