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.""

Comments

yeah, now only if it would stop raining outside...

[acroyear]

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...

It's too bad no one predicted this one

[freeweed]

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.

Re:BINOCULARS WARNING - don't use in daytime

[kitzilla]

Amen. I believe this comet is now about 4 degrees from the sun -- too close for me to see it today. The sky that close is far too bright to safely use binoculars under most cloud conditions. Don't do it, no matter what yesterday's SpaceWeather article says.