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Comet McNaught Visible in Broad Daylight
AbsoluteXyro writes "As the amateur astronomers among us already know, Comet McNaught has been gracing the early morning and late evening skies... as it approaches the Sun, some estimate it has the potential to become 40 times brighter than Venus, or a magnitude of -8.8! In fact, it has recently been reported at SpaceWeather.com that Comet McNaught is now visible in broad daylight! From the article: "It's fantastic," reports Wayne Winch of Bishop, California. "I put the sun behind a neighbor's house to block the glare and the comet popped right into view. You can even see the tail.""
seriously, how long will it be in that general area of the sky at that time? DC's got rain and clouds for at least the next 2 days...
"But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
-- Joe
"I put the sun behind a neighbor's house to block the glare and the comet popped right into view. You can even see the tail."
He moved the sun. Impressive.
Lindsay Blanton
RadioReference.com
He put the sun behind his neighbor's house? I wanna meet this guy.
This may sound obvious, but DO NOT use binoculars during the day to look at objects near the sun. One slip and you get instant, permanent, crippling eye damage.
The linked stories do talk about binoculars, but they were written for looking at the comet after sunset.
We all know that the comet is really called the "Bart Simpson Comet". Jeez, this McNaught character taking all the credit.
Will it hit the earth and where ?
The fact that media is not saying anything about it may be the evidence of doomsday...
It's a shame ain't it? Like you, we got a blanket of winter loving clouds down here in these parts for the next few days. I really hate to miss this astronomical event too. Apparently FTA, it's only a weekend matinee showing. As usual, great timing mother lucking nature!
I hope, when they die, cartoon characters have to answer for their sins.
Impressive? Not necessarily. It depends on which sun he's talking about. They range from 0.37kg to 1122kg.
I was just leaving the house and I saw that there was a lunar eclipse. Then I turned the other direction and there was Hale-Bopp, a weird white smudge low on the horizon. That was so freaking cool. It stuck around for quite some time.
I was able to take a pretty crappy shot of her yesterday at dusk. Unfortunately I didn't hear about that comet until it was too low on the horizon to get anything decent...or to get my hands on a decent zoom lense.
I bet his neighbor was upset.
DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
http://skytonight.com/observing/highlights/5133461 .html
"If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, January 12th is your last good opportunity to catch Comet McNaught in the evening twilight -- though January 13th isn't completely out of the question. After that, Comet McNaught will become a target for observers in the Southern Hemisphere, as shown below."
Today is January 14th.
So someone if finally making sequel to "Night of the Comet". Awesome! :P
I'd like to take my kids out tonight, this sounds like a good excuse to drive north of the city.
:)
Will I still be able to see it, or will it be below the horizon? Any viewing tips?
I live in south-eastern Ontario, Canada (near ll=44.5,-76.7).
I used to have a computer program that told me about this stuff, and where to look... but, alas, it ran on my C-64 and probably doesn't know about this chunk of ice anyhow.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
I think you won't see much more of it anymore, until it emerges from behind the sun.
In the Southern Hemisphere it will be visible in the following week or so. It is raining right now here in the Kingdom of the Zulu, and the weather service expects the rain to persist for the whole of next week. We don't complain about rain here in Africa (except when there are floods of course) but this is inconvenient.
I was seven years old in 1986, and I was really excited to see Halley's comet. The night that the comet was expected to be visible, I asked my mother to wake me up so that I can see it. The next morning, I asked her why she didn't wake me. She explained that I had been sleeping so peacefully, and that she didn't want to disturb me. I was bitterly upset. Oh well, 76 years isn't that long to wait.
I predict all these post will come to nought.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Just thinking, are there any Nike wearing weirdos out there looking to hitch a ride this time around?
Huh?
I don't want to go outside.
Latewire
Every few years, it seems, we've had another comet that was supposed to be "best comet of the century!!!", and all my life, they've been fizzling. A couple have been OK, but there's been a dearth of really bright, visible comets since before I was born.
This sucker, I wish someone would have hyped the hell out of. IT IS THAT BRIGHT. The problem is, hardly anyone (including Slashdot) was reporting on it until it was damn near gone. There were about 2-4 nights where it was incredibly bright, brighter than Venus, and visible just at sunset for about half an hour or so. VERY close to the horizon but for the first time in my life, light pollution meant nothing. I was able to see this thing while driving around, so long as I had a clear view of the horizon to the west. Most comets you have to hunt for, use binoculars, maps, you name it. This thing had a very long tail, just sitting there in plain view.
It's been the best comet of the past 3 decades at least. Unfortunately the vast majority of the planet missed out, as these reports have all come after the fact. Plus, it's now barely visible for those in the northern hemisphere.
I'm gonna try this daytime trick out, because if it's like the sunset viewing conditions, it will be 10x as cool as is described here.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
I know who to blame for things like this: George Bush.
First he caused that hurricane, now this comet. Bill Clinton never caused any major natural disasters or evil omens.
I can confirm this: I just saw the comet at 10:30 a.m. local time Sunday morning! Incredible. In all my years as an astronomer I have never seen anything like this. Using my binoculars I could easily spot it 5 degrees from the Sun. I'm trying to get video now, but it's so close it will be difficult. I made a videoblog about this the other day. I'll have to update it now!
*** Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer http://www.badastronomy.com
we've had a week straight of cloud cover. Lights in the sky would only make the local bible-thumpers nervous anyway (Kansas).
Here in Oxford, UK, the comet will be above the horizon from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow (15th January), which means there is a very, very slim chance of seeing it right on the horizon at sunset.
Heavens Gate II Electric Boogaloo
Sure, it is a bit weird pointing the binoculars in that general direction (weird like walking on the glass floor of the CN tower 1000 feet up- some major part of your brain is screaming at you that this ought not be done). But I found a spot where I could lean against the house, so any slip (me, binoculars, earthquake) would move the binoculars away from the sun.
I can even post to Slashdot right after. Although why Slashdot changed their color scheme to "big green blob in the middle of the page" I don't know.
As the Spaceweather link says:They are talking daytime.
If you're looking for it without binoculars, it's outside of the super-bright white area by the sun- the sky is blue behind it. It looks like a fuzzy version of Venus (if you've seen that during the day). If you can be where telephone wires make a grid in the sky, it makes searching easier.
Tried looking for it today in the Orange County, CA area. Despite the air being unusually clear (as it has been for the last few weeks), I just could not spot the comet. Chalk it up to being close to sea level and in the suburbs, I guess.
Oh, well, I was at least able to see it at sunset the last two nights.
i tried - I placed a post in front of the sun, peeked out to the left, used two pairs of sunglasses at the same time, and still couldn't see it. I call hoax. It's incredibly clear here, too - dry and clear.
the sky would clear up so i could see it now.
I took a few photos from my house in Oakland -
A W_FAX99Dry/
http://meems.imeem.com/iQrVatKB/photo/blSLxv2H/1l
I'd managed to grab a few shots at sunset, but I wanted a shot with both the sun and the comet in frame - so I held my sun filter out as far away from the camera as I could manage, it dimmed the solar disc but left it visible, a wee bit of adjustment to the luminance curves was needed to bring out the comet at the top left of the shot. Sorry it's kind of small, I just used the stock 55mm lens on my camera so I could be sure I'd get a wide enought field of view.
Originally they said it would be very faint. It wasn't until 7 days after the prime observing time that the news managed to cut through the iPhone noise, but by then it was too late.
1
It was invisible to the naked eye on Saturday. Only after greatly amplifying the frames in software did the comet emerge. It probably won't be visible after Sunday.
Threw some photos of the comet on http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=11514
and made a movie of it right until it was 50 pixels above the horizon. The movie may get uploaded if there's any interest.
In the war between fancy new products and astronomy, the fancy new products always win. Only 7 days after the prime observing time, thousands of iPhone headlines, 24 hour Steve Jobless coverage, and Pirates of Silicon Valley marathons, did a small blurb appear about the brightest comet in 10 years having come and gone.
Amazing how with the most advanced communication technology and the ability for everyone to know everything, we are still victims of the most basic human desire to idolize the few strong leaders at the expense of everything else.
How about you editors grow up a little?
Yes, I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had...
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Oh, right, it's just an incredible coincidence that this comet gets bright the very same week that the iPhone is introduced.
Jealous losers like Cisco and God just want to try and be cool like Apple.
Nobody ever even heard of this comet before just a few months ago. Maybe if they'd actually innovated and made a better comet then people would have heard of it before it's totally obsolete.
Just ask anyone which they've heard of: "the iPhone" or "McNaught's Comet." Hah, I'll bet you probably have a tough time even finding McNaught's Comet.
Better luck next comet, losers!
You know, I wouldn't even mind it as much if it was snowing. But this goddamned RAIN! It's 50 degrees out, and drizzling rain for the last three days. WHAT HAPPENED TO WINTER?!?!?!
I've kept on hearing about this comet for the last few days. I tried to look for it last week, but I always had a mess of clouds blocking the western horizon, exactly where I should be looking. Curse this weather!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"It's fantastic," reports Wayne Winch of Bishop, California. "I put the sun behind a neighbor's house to block the glare and the comet popped right into view. You can even see the tail."
Now there is a strong man with aspestos hands!
Sure enough, the cow costume was hanging up next to the superhero outfit and sailors uniform. (S,Spud)
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r ion.html
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Look at this amazing "mix" of a Bigelow module and an Orion capsule!!!
http://www.gaetanomarano.it/articles/016_BigelowO
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http://www.ghostnasa.com/ http://www.gaetanomarano.it/articles/articles.htm
Its probably because 90% of the people who post/track articles are on holidays and only basic staff are on hand.
M akes_For_Stellar_A_First_Light_Present_For_STEREO_ Telescope_999.html
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Comet_McNaught_
Jan 15!!!
We still have time to see it though, but yeah, could have been earlier, curse you space websites/magazines.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rmn/C2006P1.htm
This site has a lot of info and viewing directions.
Basically...
By Jan 16, the effect of forward scattering will have dropped back to about zero and the comet will already be heading away from the Sun and Earth; back to the obscurity of the Oort cloud. Although now clearly fading, it will be moving higher into the southern sky away from the sun. At sunset on the 16th, the comet will be about 10 degrees from the sun and just left of directly above the Sun at sunset. It will set 54 mins after the sun, 9 degrees to the left of the sunset point.
From Jan 17 onwards, the comet, although fainter, should be well visible in the darker skies. It then moves into the SW sky at roughly a 45 deg angle up to the left of the sunset point. The angular distance of the comet from sun at the time of sunset from Sydney then increases on a daily basis:
Jan 17 12deg
18 15deg
19 17deg
after which date the head of the comet will set when the sun has already passed more than 18 degrees below the horizon (astronomical darkness).
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Gee thanks for posting the information a week late
For once it's right to blame the media, too! There was NO mention of this in either of the major Twin Cities papers. Shit. And I work 'til 10 pm, so have consistently missed it. Maybe I can see the daytime version tomorrow...
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon