Astroblog: In which I see comet McNaught yet again.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

In which I see comet McNaught yet again.

Comet McNaught on the evening of Monday, January 22, around 9:20 pm ACDST, Olympus mju:300, 6 seconds exposure (click image to enlarge).

The clouds finally parted yesterday, I could barely constrain myself with anticipation. The Sun set at 8:30 pm ACDST, so around 9:00 pm ACDST I hurried up to the beach clutching my digital and SLR cameras and two tripods. On the way I ran into neighbor's Son, who had set up his telescope in the front yard in anticipation, I checked out Venus in it then went to the end of the Street and set up my cameras.

9:05 pm. I've set up the cameras and taken Dark Frames, I can now see the comet as a bright dot in the blue sky, with only the faintest hint of tail. The first shots are taken.

9:15 pm. The Comet has about 5 degree of tail visible and the head is quite bright (magnitude 1 perhaps, hard to tell with no nearby reference stars), Next Door Neighbour has come up for a look with his nifty binoculars (I left mine behind in the rush). The comets head and tail are clearly visible in the binoculars.

9:30 pm The Comets tail is growing in visibility, and is at least 10 degrees long (about two handspans). The head is beginning to dim as it gets closer to the horizon. Neighbor's Son, Train Companion, Bike Maker have turned up to watch and take photos. I develop envy about their digital cameras, that take much better images than mine. Their images show a clear fan of brightness pointing away from the nucleus and main tail (this I can now see readily in binoculars). At this point the car headlights get terminally annoying (why are there so many cars about on Monday evening for Zarqon's sake) and are interfering with our night vision we pack up and head down to the beach.

9:45 pm The comets head is nearly invisible, but the great fan shaped tail reaches up to alpha Grus and beyond, well over 12 degrees. I can't see any striations, but my night vision isn't what it used to be, and the comet is directly above the lights of the pier. We have now been joined by families and Eclipse Guy. Digital images are compared.

10:00 pm. With the comets head well hidden in the murk of the horizon, and the tail still stretching up in the sky, we all head home. Eclipse Guy and I have a cuppa together (after passing Bettdeckererschnappender weisle a hot milo) and discuss the comet, view digital images and relive the wonder.

Labels: 2006/P1 McNaught

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 7:13 am

Comments:

Saw the comet really clearly last night over Eden NSW aprox 10pm . With its tail lasting for longer than I chose to stay outside, truly spectacular stuff....

# posted by