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Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA ^ | 1/15/07 | Juan Casado

Posted on 01/15/2007 3:29:16 AM PST by sig226

Comet McNaught Over Catalonia
Credit & Copyright: Juan Casado (skylook.net)

Explanation: This past weekend Comet McNaught peaked at a brightness that surpassed even Venus. Fascinated sky enthusiasts in the Earth's northern hemisphere were treated to an instantly visible comet head and a faint elongated tail near sunrise and sunset. Recent brightness estimates had Comet McNaught brighter than magnitude -5 (minus five) over this past weekend, making it the brightest comet since Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965, which was recorded at -7 (minus seven). The Great Comet of 2007 reached its brightest as it rounded the Sun well inside the orbit of Mercury. Over the next week Comet McNaught will begin to fade as it moves south and away from the Sun. The unexpectedly bright comet should remain visible to observers in the southern hemisphere with unaided eyes for the rest of January. The above image, vertically compressed, (this is the full image) was taken at sunset last Friday from mountains above Catalonia, Spain.


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; comet; cometmcnaught; mcnaught

1 posted on 01/15/2007 3:29:18 AM PST by sig226
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To: fnord; Number57; KevinDavis; rdb3; MNJohnnie; thoughtomator; RightWhale; proudofthesouth; ...

2 posted on 01/15/2007 3:30:19 AM PST by sig226 (See my profile for the democrat culture of corruption list.)
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To: sig226

nice pic


3 posted on 01/15/2007 3:53:14 AM PST by mcar
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To: sig226
Way cool pic today.

Thanks,

L

4 posted on 01/15/2007 3:56:48 AM PST by Lurker (Europeans killed 6 million Jews. As a reward they got 40 million Moslems. Karma's a bitch.)
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To: sig226

The weather here has killed any chance of my seeing this comet so far. Wednesday looks like my best bet this week.


5 posted on 01/15/2007 5:44:38 AM PST by Roccus (Able Danger??? What's an Able Danger????)
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To: sig226
Here's my humble contribution. As seen from Vallejo, Ca. last thursday.


6 posted on 01/15/2007 7:32:05 PM PST by WSGilcrest (Mikey likes it!)
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