Astroblog: Well, that was unique

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Well, that was unique

Today started with cloud/rain cloud and continued for most of the day. However, when we came out from the movies (Night at the Museum, very funny) just on sunset, there was a big blue patch of sky. Of course by the time we got home, the sky was black again. The sky would tease me, with a band of blue near the horizon (while I was sheltering from the driving rain from the cloud directly above me), then complete cloud. Eventually I braved the howling gale to go down the beach. There was a band of could that steadfastly hugged the horizon, and lots of other clouds that shot past just above.

And one that stayed put. As the sky darkened and my eyes adjusted, this band of "cloud" was a pillar of "cloud", not far from the stars of Grus, the crane. And it stayed steadfast despite the hurrying of other clouds. It was the comets tail! I was seeing the tail poke up above the clouds! It was amazing. I didn't try to take a photo, the wind was trying to push me away, and any camera would be whirled away to oblivion, so I just enjoyed it (as much as you can hunkering down under a small shrub trying to reduce the impact of the wind).

This gives me an oppotrunity to link to this series of great images from Vello Tabur, showing the tail develop as the twilight progresses in Gilgandra, NSW, and these images of the tail poking up above the horizon from Italy, 45 deg North, Hawaii, and the USA.

I promise I will blog about something other than Comet McNaught in the near future.

Labels: 2006/P1 McNaught

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 10:56 pm

Comments:

;-)

Actually, Ian, it is great to see all the images that you link to and hear that you've been able to see it. Dr Karl even mentioned it on triple J on Thursday. My bad luck with weather (and horizon hugging clouds) in the northern hemisphere meant that I didn't get a single glimpse of the comet.

# posted by