Catch Comet McNaught Now !

Sky & Telescope ^ | 1-9-07 | Tony Flanders

[Orlando]

"If you live in the Northern hemisphere, this evening is your best remaining opportunity to catch Comet McNaught in its full glory. The comet is sinking rapidly from one evening to the next, but it's also getting brighter.."

[Orlando]

In @ 8 hours (+/-) ??? It will be on SOHO, and should be cool to watch ?

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots

ps..Here's a animation of 2006/P1(McNaught)path:

http://www.shadowandsubstance.com

[Orlando]

Thanks for this informations

[Orlando]

or a GOOD Omen ?!?

[Domandred]

Ping tag. Thanks for the post will see if I can observe it tonight.

[TXnMA]

Went out Monday night and last night, (for an hour either side of sunset) but never found McNaught.

Monday, I had a spectacularly clear view, but, I apparently estimated its position too far north, and it must have been behind a clump of tall trees out in the field across which I was viewing. :-(

Last night, using Stellarium and various web maps, I'm pretty sure I had the location right -- but, with a band of low clouds that kept the horizon blazingly-bright long after Venus was visible, I was never able to detect it.

This is very frustrating, because I have tracked many other (much fainter) comets from the time they were months away from perihelion. :-(

With heavy overcast forecast for tonight and Friday here in NE TX, it looks like my best bet of seeing it (until after it departs from the sun) is via SOHO. ( It doesn't appear in the SOHO field, yet, but it should enter from the top...)

Speaking of SOHO -- I presume that is Mercury that appears just below and slightly to the left of center in the SOHO field. Correct? (Mercury is so close to the sun that I had to turn off atmospheric scattering in Stellarium in order to separate it from the sun's glare...)

[Orlando]

http://www.spaceweather.com

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure. :')

[Izzy Dunne]

Note that the TONIGHT refers to Jan. 9, i.e. last Tuesday.

[Orlando]

You still have tonight and Friday AM/PM ?

http://www.skytonight.com

[Calvin Locke]

You can see the sky? I think I've had one clear night since Christmas, and that was windy enough to shake the scope.

[RightWhale]

Thanks for posting this notification. From Fairbanks we would not have a clue this is happening.

[Orlando]

You are welcome.
Thank You

[My2Cents]

Our weather hasn't been all that good here in the Sacramento Valley. If it hasn't been overcast it's been foggy, and if it's been clear it's been freezing. The last week or so has been pretty good. But until earlier this week, the moon was interfering with real astro-observing. Last evening we had some overcast bit there was a break in the clouds just above the western horizon around 5:30 last night, and the comet was clearly visible. It was spectacular. Today is cold, but with a brilliant clear blue sky, so the chances of seeing the comet this evening are good.

[NormsRevenge]

No problemo.

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

Same experience.

Had some clear sky yesterday here in Iowa. Looked for McNaught but could 'naught' find it!

[steve86]

Very nice view here in the Pacific Northwest. Cold front left crystal clear skies.

I was able to find Venus at about 4:50 PM local time, then found the comet in the binocs at around 5:05. I had been looking about 5 degrees too far to the south so it might have been visible a few minutes earlier.

The twilight was still quite bright orange behind the comet so the head does have to be really bright to stand out. The tail was nicely visible and very distinct in the 20X60 binocs.

For a very short time (a few minutes) I could make out the comet with the naked eye, but it is small and I probably would have missed it had the optics not shown me where to look.

The head of the comet set about 5:20 local time and all I could see of the tail a couple minutes later. There were four or five other cars and one bicycle out looking where I was.

[steve86]

Any luck? My report in #36.

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

looky

[TXnMA]

The skychart posted by NormsRevenge in #34 is one of the ones I used. I transferred the comet's coordinates into Stellarium, and cycled Stellarium through the sunset sequence several times, so I was (supposedly) familiar with the relationships between Venus, the sunset point, the horizon, and the (elusive) comet.

Still no McNaught sighting from here in NE TX... :-(

Must have been the low clouds in the west. In fact, there were so many contrails (especialy over DFW), that they, alone, made a fair batch of clouds...

~~~~~

Just checked SOHO -- still no comet in the SOHO field of view...

[Knitting A Conundrum]

My luck...constant cloud and snow when there's a comet to see...wouldn't be the first time!