Astronomy Picture of the Day -- The Magnificent Tail of Comet McNaught

NASA ^ | November 17, 2013 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Comet McNaught, the Great Comet of 2007, grew a spectacularly long and filamentary tail. The magnificent tail spread across the sky and was visible for several days to Southern Hemisphere observers just after sunset. The amazing tail showed its greatest extent on long-duration, wide-angle camera exposures. During some times, just the tail itself estimated to attain a peak brightness of magnitude -5 (minus five), was caught by the comet's discoverer in the above image just after sunset in January 2007 from Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Comet McNaught, the brightest comet in decades, then faded as it moved further into southern skies and away from the Sun and Earth. Within the next two weeks of 2013, rapidly brightening Comet ISON might sprout a tail that rivals even Comet McNaught.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Robert H. McNaught]

[SunkenCiv]

The Big One

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[SunkenCiv]

Pardon the interruption, but some jack-a-napes had the URLs switched, so that the large was the small etc. Note also that this pic is from 2007.

The Big One

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[MUDDOG]

What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

[mikrofon]

Fan-tail Sky Dancer

[COBOL2Java]

Is that Debbie Wasserman Schultz watching the comet? I think her Mayonnaise perm need a touch-up.

[RedMDer]

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[SunkenCiv]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tq-RE_6yVo

[fieldmarshaldj]

I thought it was Beaker.

[COBOL2Java]

I thought it was Beaker.

Well, now, have you ever seen Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Beaker in the same room together?