Comet McNaught (2006/P1) - discussions [Archive] - Page 3

netwolf

23-01-2007, 10:43 PM

Well I always look for Venus and go about 3 maybe 3.5 fist widths over to the left of it and then scan up an down there. You need to wait at least half hour to 45mins after sunset to see it with the naked eye or even binos. The description you gave of a torch light is the same i used to tell my mate on the first night I saw it.

I have seen it on the 16th 18th 19th 20th and 22nd. The first night I had to use the binos, now I can get it with my eyes. Clouded over the other days. I want to try and see it as much as I can. I wish i had a better camera so i can get more of the tail. But it is a visually magnificent creature. Words can not begin to describe it.

clear skies to you.

Regards

timtam

23-01-2007, 10:48 PM

Hello Netwolf:hi: , thank you for that. We have no given up hope, LOL hoping for a nother peek tomorrow. We gave our 8 year old son a telescope for Xmas it is just a $60 job from Tandy a Celestron but it's not too bad. We got awesome veiws of the moons craters one night so recently hubby and I especially have become astronomy buffs:lol: .

maddownunder

23-01-2007, 10:49 PM

Have been waiting to see the comet for a week, finally got to see it tonight ! looks AMAZING ! the tail was so clear and long. Have been looking at pictures on spaceweather, but what I seen tonight was a 100 times better. Worth the wait. Hope we get another nice clear night tommorow too.

ronnierigel

24-01-2007, 08:59 AM

Got out of Melbourne last night to Wallan.
2100hrs --clear!
2110hrs--cloud rolls in. Go back to in'laws
2200hrs---clearing!!
2210hrs--go back to viewing site---WOW!!!! this is the best comet that I have visually observed----better than Halleys/hyutake/hale-bopp. The tail stretched at least 15 degrees and striations (?technical term) were easily visible.
It is awesome----one that we can truly rave on about and not dissapoint the average layperson.

On a sour note--stuffed up my exposure settings in my haste to get some pics before further cloud rolled in, comet set and my ears froze off!!---all worth it however!

Now for some more clear days.

ron

Garyh

24-01-2007, 09:06 AM

Hi everyone, Glad to hear some of you got some views last night...
Havn`t seen it since Saturday night, has been too cloudy since..
Just wondering how the brightness of the comet and its dust tail is holding up the last few days? has it faded much?
Itching to see it again and do some guided exposures...hopefully before the moon gets to bright and wash out the faint tail...
Cheers Gary

xstream

24-01-2007, 09:48 AM

Our local TV station Prime Albury (channel 7) put out a request last night for images of McNaught, I emailed a few to them this morning and they are going to be used on tonights news. :thumbsup:

ving

24-01-2007, 09:53 AM

it quite a feeling isnt it Rod. :) I got some sort of sense of achievement when cheryl came up to see the comet for the first time, she doesnt even like me talking astro stuff with her cause she gets bored of it...
and then she came up a second time :eek: and of her own accord. I was at my comet watching spot (about 200m up the top of the hill from home) watching said comet with a couple of unknown guys when i heard a noise behind me. she had just decided to come up for a look. I was pretty chuffed :D

I think that in some cases, even non astro people realise the significance of the event.

erick

24-01-2007, 10:36 AM

My 20 yr old daughter has said - "Dad, you've mistaken me for someone who cares!" :sadeyes: BUT she did go out with her brothers to see it two nights ago and did sit and look at most of my slides last night. :D

Volans

24-01-2007, 07:32 PM

G'day All,

I have been granted a reprieve from work for about a week starting at the end of the month. Assuming the comet is still at a reasonable brightness (and yes, I know the Moon will be annoying) can anyone suggest a place any where in Australia that I can:

1. Get to reasonably easily via planes, trains and automobiles
2. Have a fairly high chance of clear skies

Brisbane has been clouded out too often and I want to see more of this hairy star.
:help:
Peter.

barossa watcher

24-01-2007, 11:52 PM

The comet looks great as I seen it tonight just by accident whilst driving in a s/w direction just out of the Barossa Valley about 2200hrs.
My partner asked what this thing in the sky was.... a helicopter or something with its night sun on or alike..
Then I realised it was this comet I had been hearing about for the past week or so on the radio.
It was easily veiwable with just the naked eye, as we had beautiful clear skies tonight, but a set of goggles or scope would have been nice to see it clearer and check out more detail..
This is something I wont forget in a hurry..

MikeyB

25-01-2007, 12:12 AM

Hey, Volans.

Give Perth a try, Peter. We've had a great run of clear viewing ever since McNaught first came above the horizon and at this time of year, can expect plenty more.

There's unobstructed westward views from our miles of glorious Indian Ocean beaches and no city lights in that direction until you hit Africa!

Michael

fringe_dweller

25-01-2007, 12:20 AM

hey Barossa watcher, Welcome!
comet is still doing well isnt it!, I had an easy to see 25 -30 degree clear long silvery slender-ish curved tail widening to a ribbon width by after the first few degrees from coma, from the back yard, with a hint of the fainter larger spread/features - second nights viewing from my backyard!! that dust taill is extremely resilient! in fact first small 1 or 2 degrees of tail seemed just as bright as the head this evening! I have noticed a lot of other stars popping out of the twilight before p1 does since monday, it used to be first one out last week :) even beat venus coupla times there,
amazing, hard to imagine getting blase' about a bright 30 degree tail naked eye comet/tail, wasnt long ago would of killed for a comet even 1/10th as good as it still looks now!!! :)
btw I read a stat that the visible tail got out to around 1 AU!!!!! in length on the 20th, and has been getting longer after that!

fringe_dweller

25-01-2007, 12:59 AM

still cant get over that 'Klingon Bird-of-Prey decloaking' trick the comet and tail was doing in the bright twilight last week - freakin amazing!

fringe_dweller

25-01-2007, 01:13 AM

...or how bright it was last saturday evening!

from the glimpes of the head/first part of tail and longer looks at the extremities of the larger bloated mid and end sections of tail we saw, and what i have seen since (and the pics of course), i think I know? how good that must looked naked eye with clear views from thursday thru sat, even sunday when it got dark i guess, you are very lucky people who saw that! and yes i'm extremely jealous :P
sat night, down at the sea, it was like being in a fog, like in king kong the movie, and suddenly you see skull island! or your in little dinghy/tinny in the fog/storm and a giant tanker ship or a whale (and the beast pins one fishy eye upon ye) as it comes gliding by closely, - i am using poetic license here of course :D

swannies1983

25-01-2007, 05:56 AM

I'm so :mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :mad2: !!! I'm supposed to have started my trip back to Adelaide from Prague as of now, but all flights out of Prague have been cancelled due to snow in Prague. We were told we wouldn't be able to leave Prague until the 28th of January (arriving in Adelaide on the 30th January). This is not the news I wanted to here as I have been waiting anxiously to get home so I can see this comet! We may (cross fingers) be able to depart for Australia tomorrow, arriving on the 27th January. I'm supposed to be going to a wedding that day but I might see if I can duck out to see the comet during the reception :whistle:

EDIT: Looks like I can't get a flight back to Australia until the 28th (arriving Adelaide on the 30th). Shatters my chances of seeing the comet :(

evonski

25-01-2007, 11:51 AM

:welcome: Hi All!

Great discussion and images about this astronomical event, I 've been fortunate to have seen it for 5 nights since last Thursday, however cloud cover spoilt the last 2 evenings.I could see it here in Ballina (bright gleeming street lights at times I wished they'd dissappear)using 10X50 binos.
It was really spectacular as a naked eye object.
I really need better equipment ...
Any suggestions for astrophotography that doesn't cost an "arm & a leg"

Happy Sky watching

OneOfOne

25-01-2007, 01:41 PM

Just about any digital camera capable of at least 15 seconds exposure should capture something! About 100 to 400 ASA at F4 or so will get you some sort of a record.

matt

25-01-2007, 05:09 PM

Yep. That's what we've been using.

15 seconds at f3.5 with ISO 400

MortonH

25-01-2007, 09:20 PM

Anyone else having withdrawal symptons? I haven't seen it since last Saturday!!! How much longer is it likely to be this spectacular?

Morton

danielsun

25-01-2007, 09:21 PM

Yes, I even got a wow out of my totaly non astronomical wife last night after dragging her out for a look.:)

ballaratdragons

25-01-2007, 09:33 PM

Looks good already and the sun hasn't long gone down! :thumbsup:

My boys look like they are camping in the back yard with the deck chairs, blankets etc. :lol:

Looks as if it will be another glorious view tonight. Sky is glass!

entilzah

25-01-2007, 09:51 PM

i have to have another look tonight just as well its a public holiday tommrow and at least i have had a couple of my workmates looking even had a couple of questions on why the tail glows ect and how long will it be visible but at least ive got some of them to look up at night anyhow outside i go with a chair and my faithfill companion

fringe_dweller

25-01-2007, 10:37 PM

depends what your definition of spectacular is Morton :) to me it will still be pretty special even when its reduced to ONLY a binocular/long duration exposure tracked imaging at a dark sky site object hehe

but you really need VERY dark skies to appreciate the full monty, or whats left of it, I notice the moon is having strong detrimental effect on the comet tonight, that will only get worse I suppose, for a little while, mornings soon, on weekend, are quite nice before the moon moves into it, maybe?

jjjnettie

25-01-2007, 11:14 PM

So how long should this tail last for? Weeks, Months? Will the solar winds blow it away?

How long before you astrophotographers start complaining about celestial light pollution?

MortonH

25-01-2007, 11:31 PM

Hi Kearn, I know what you mean. This is such a special comet that we'll all try to follow it as long as possible. Who cares that it's fading now? It's put on a much better show than I ever expected to see.

Morton

fringe_dweller

26-01-2007, 01:16 AM

JJ - how do you mean re: tail lasting? . as a visual thing? or over time in space/solar system,
i am totally whistling in the wind here, but I guesstimate, even as much as 3 weeks from now tail will be holding out, as a binocular/ long exposure object, even if that tail shrinks from view by half! its still a monster?
how long will it last in space, i guess not that long as it is now, on the scale of things, just spread out, i mean the solar wind is still pushing it out as you said - i guess it will dilute and spread out according to the individual particle sizes (edit:and densities), just like meteor showers are made up, denser grains spreads closer to the old original orbit and graduating lighter stuff out further from original perihilion time orbit path, and the tugging gravitational tides of the planets, like jupiter particularly, will further distort and dilute the tail? it sure seems to be looking like it will be an issue re: natural light pollution, that will be interesting. i mean, i remember we were looking at Hale bopp thru scopes 4 years (near the large mag?) after it closest approach/perihelion, that was a bigger object physically, but it didnt have a tail like this?

gday Morton, you put it in a nutshell beautifully, my sentiments also :) hope ya get plenty of great nights ahead!

fringe_dweller

26-01-2007, 01:34 AM

actually thought about it a bit more, and of course the tiny bits that make up the tail will keep the velocity of the comet, thats how they know the speed of meteor shower meteors, its the same as the parent comet/asteroid, and stays the same forever, unless something affects it, being in a vacumn and that.
They know the speed of the comet by its orbit, if it comes from further out/larger orbit they tend to be/are faster, and of a certain geometric orbit - meteor showers usually only come from periodic comets, like Halleys, or captured oort cloud numbers and never venture far from the sun.
So the tail will in effect keep following the comet (and it is never coming back i have read, or it has a massive orbit of some ridiculous amount of time, cant remember right now, out of the solar sytem kinda - also depends on the chemical composition of particles, maybe they might kinda further break down in size, from ultra-violet light even, bumping into each other ect.?
:shrug: i could be way off here? dont take my word for it :D

netwolf

26-01-2007, 06:05 AM

I am having withdrawals with this cloud thats hanging over NSW, it would be ok if it rained as we need the rain, but its just hanging on. It rained on Wednesday boy did it rain that was great cause we need it. Then it just stopped and the clouds just hanging around. I just cant get enough. We have a picnic organised for Sunday down south near Stanvilletops area. I hope it clears by then so we can enjoy it.

Regards

iceman

26-01-2007, 06:53 AM

I haven't seen it since Saturday either.. getting withdrawals.. hoping it clears for tonight.

CoombellKid

26-01-2007, 07:39 AM

It would be nice if it cleared up here to, on the north coast. But at least we
got several nights to observe the comet, an it looked rather spectacular
through my new 20x80's.

regards,CS

albys

26-01-2007, 01:14 PM

A late first-time sighting here... I'd tried on St Kilda beach on Wednesday night, but saw nothing, I'm still not sure whether it was a case of too much cloud or giving up too early (9.30! my parking time was running out!), maybe both. Thanks to EricK's instructions-for-beginners (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=186265&postcount=56) I thought I'd see what I could see just 5 minutes from home, from the Fitzroy Community Oval, North Fitzroy. Lots of city lights around, but a hell of a clear sky. So I checked out where the sun set, and just before 10pm wandered over to the darkness in the middle of the oval, and - :eyepop: - spotted the comet within minutes, after checking each star in the general SW direction for a tail. Not too much visible to the naked eye but I knew when I'd found it, and some 15-second photos confirmed it. Only stayed for about 15 minutes as I wanted to get home and call my girlfriend to tell her to get out there and look - we'd been pretty disappointed on the St Kilda visit! She also spotted it without too much trouble from her backyard in Caulfield. So - no special locations are really required to see this thing! But yes, I'm hooked and would like to get a better look!

pics here - http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=186699&postcount=496

jjjnettie

26-01-2007, 05:47 PM

So these droplets that make up this tail, start bumping into each other, joining up, getting larger. They move further away from the sun, freeze into a dirty snowball and the whole thing starts over again.
I like that idea.:)

CometGuy

26-01-2007, 09:56 PM

Comet is still hanging in there. Managed to get a very brief view of the coma before in sunk into the cloud, its still brighter than Alpha Pavo (Peacock) and I would estimate around mag 1 or so. The tail was dimly but well visible amongst the scud cloud (the conditions were not great, typical humid Brisbane night).

Terry

netwolf

26-01-2007, 10:10 PM

The skies have cleared and I went out to take a look. I spotted it with my Naked eye but its not very bright anymore I guess due to the Moon. I took some shots with by canon A610, processing them now. But the fact that it can be seen with naked eye even with moon light indicates how bright it really is.

Regards
Fahim

Terry B

26-01-2007, 10:31 PM

I have just been out looking at it. I have has cloud since last saturday every evening (with about 30mls of good rain :thumbsup: )
It is much dimmer than a week ago but still very visible. There was lots of passing cloud that I had to wait to clear but conveniently for a while the cloud covered the moon but not the comet. The tail was about 10deg to the naked eye. I took some frames with my pentax645 of up to 60 sec duration but they wont be developed till next week. Hopefully not too much trailing with the exposures of that length.
It is still worth a look without the scope or binos.

dcnicholls

27-01-2007, 12:16 AM

Comet was quite easily seen from the middle of Canberra tonight (over the Woden town centre lights) with about 22 degrees of main tail perceivable to the naked eye with averted vision, and over ten degrees easy to see. To the south of and below Alpha and Beta Gruis, with the tail extending up past Alpha Tucanae, towards Achernar. Nucleus was a bit south of due SW at 9.45pm, at an altitude a bit less than 10 degrees.

Really clear skies for once, but the moon didn't help and will be getting worse.

While wandering up into the bush tonight (in the Red Hill nature resreve) near where I live, I came across two people standing in the half-moonlight trying to see the comet. It turned out there was a tree between them and the comet. I directed them a few metres to the left and they saw it easily. Today's good deed :)

And the road up to the lookout on Red Hil has become a traffic nightmare. Bumper to bumper traffic all the way up and back down. There must have been several hundred people trying to view it up there tonight. Yesterday was just as bad.

This comet has really captured the public interest.

DN

loomberah

27-01-2007, 02:11 PM

The comet is visible in the mornings as well as the evenings now, but being low in bright twilight before sunrise its not so obvious or spectacular as in the evenings. I had cloud this morning, but was able to see it naked eye without too much difficulty yesterday morning and posted a photo here:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/mcnaught.htm (http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eloomberah/mcnaught.htm)

cheers, Gordon

cometcatcher

27-01-2007, 04:40 PM

I saw the photo before the details and I thought that had to be a morning photo. Tail was going the wrong way for evening. ;)

vash

27-01-2007, 09:02 PM

I finaly got to see it!.
After a very long period here on the Gold Coast I managed a glimps of it just on dark, I couldn't get a decent photo of it but I'm juist glad that I finaly saw this thing with my own eye's.

I've been very anouyed that it has been cloudy and just by chance I looked in the right spot with the bino's. ah, well, guess I can sleep now that I haven't missed out on it.

CoombellKid

27-01-2007, 09:18 PM

We've had it a lil rough over the last few days too, but managed to catch
this evening on the 20x80's for a few minites :) now we're clouded in again:sadeyes:

regards,CS

fringe_dweller

27-01-2007, 09:21 PM

pretty handy P1's peak time occuring around the time of a 'major lunar standstill' year, just gone, in the metonic cycle (note: i'm not an expert on this btw, just an observation) - wow timing - that moons been low in the north for us here, just of late, and with the comet in the southern skies!, and will be at least for this period :-)

fringe_dweller

27-01-2007, 09:29 PM

JJ - I am thinking the small and larger thingys that make up the present tail will be kaput, toast - and eventually smoke? :D

I have to admit, I do like your self-recycling comet tail theory tho :) - that would be better - maybe!? who knows :shrug: :prey:

jjjnettie

27-01-2007, 11:01 PM

Stranger theories have come true.

astroron

27-01-2007, 11:20 PM

:hi: jjj I saw the comet for about an hour tonight and didn't even aft to leave home:) it was brilliant easy naked eye till the last moment befor going below the hill at 20:15, the tail was visible till 20:30 even with the first quarter moon:eyepop:

jjjnettie

28-01-2007, 12:06 PM

Last night was pretty good, though the moon was causing serious interference with viewing the tail.
I wonder how much more it will have faded come next new moon?

jjjnettie

28-01-2007, 12:12 PM

Re. the fate of comet tails.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/comet_tail_000405.html
Here's a small excerpt:-

Scientists say the Ulysses-Hyakutake collision will help comet experts understand the life cycle and fate of comets, which many think of as prehistoric relics from the earliest days of the solar system. In particular, the discovery of such a long comet tail invites astronomers to believe that they may find and study past comets whose tails are still intact.

"Nobody really believed that you could have a comet tail this long," said Gloeckler. "They thought it would break up, dissipate, and it would be so diluted, you wouldnt see it at all. But now with this kind of measurement, its clear that these tails stay intact far longer."

JohnG

28-01-2007, 10:50 PM

It was one of those nights tonight. Had all the neighbours looking at the comet tonight down here, the sky was clear and steady and the comet stood out clearly with the tail stretching some 15-20 degrees. Whilst they were looking, the ISS made a brilliant pass overhead, that bought out some ooh's and ar's, almost immediately there was an Iridium flare which most of them saw followed by a further 3 satelite passes followed by another Iridium flare.

Everyone completely enjoyed the experience, they still havn't stopped talking about it.

One of those nights. :thumbsup:

I had the impression that the tail was brighter than last night.

Cheers

JohnG

h0ughy

28-01-2007, 11:04 PM

great stuff, any pics John?:thumbsup:

JohnG

28-01-2007, 11:10 PM

Not tonight David, visual only, posted some from last night in the McNaught images thread.

Cheers

JohnG :)

dcnicholls

28-01-2007, 11:39 PM

I thought so too. Probably because the moon was a bit further away in the sky. I could see about 12-14 degrees of main tail with direct vision over city lights tonight, compared to about 10 degrees last night at the same time and from the same location (western end of Red Hill reserve, Canberra). The LMC was a little less easy to see tonight, so it wasn't air clarity.

DN

loomberah

29-01-2007, 05:23 AM

I'm just back inside to escape from the violent southerly blowing here on the mountain tonight. The comet is easy and quite obvious to the naked eye with 15 degrees of tail.
I had to crouch down and physically hold the tracking mount to stop it moving in the wild wind gusts, and its relatively sheltered by being a couple of metres back from the edge of the low cliff, and the legs are set low. Pics later.

cheers, Gordon

Cranium

29-01-2007, 08:36 AM

Hi folks... just joined this site after spying something curious this morning at ~5.37am here in Christchurch (I guess that's ~1637UT) and finding this to be the closest active McNaught forum! I was trying to find McNaught using Jupiter and Mars as reference but the sky was a little too bright I fear. I was staring at the area of sky I expected the comet to occupy when I saw a bright 'flash', lasting perhaps 1 second, and of magnitude comparable to Jupiter's. Now this wasn't the flash one might expect to see if one was lucky enough to witness a supernova, as it travelled slightly over its duration. I'd love to think I witnessed some explosive event related to McNaught but of course I could also have seen a head-on fireball or something in orbit catching the sun's light. I guess either of these possibilities would be in a different part of the sky as viewed from Oz. Anyway, love to know if anyone witnessed anything heaven-ward at this time!

matt

29-01-2007, 08:43 AM

Most likely an Iridium (satellite) catching the sun and flaring up

JohnG

29-01-2007, 10:00 AM

Hi all

Was up at 0450 this morning and found the comet to be a very obvious morning object now, rising in the South East, a different perspective watching it go from the dark morning sky to twilight and fading out of view.

Worth it though. :thumbsup:

Cheers

JohnG

erick

29-01-2007, 10:04 AM

And you get to pack up you gear in daylight!! :D

Garyh

29-01-2007, 01:31 PM

Hi all,
Is it worth getting up to see the comet before sunrise for my latitude? Mid north coast N.S.W. or am I too far north?
How high above the horizon and what time would be best to see it rising?
Cheers Gary

JohnG

29-01-2007, 02:13 PM

Hi Gary

I am at 36 25 South, so your only a couple of degrees North of me, my opinion it is worthwhile, the comet was well clear of the horizon here at 0450 this morning, rising in the South-East.

Worth the effort I think. :thumbsup:

Cheers

JohnG

iceman

29-01-2007, 02:40 PM

Don't forget to check out the interview (done by matt) with Rob McNaught right here on IceInSpace!

Interview with Rob McNaught (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/index.php?id=84,364,0,0,1,0)

What an interesting life!

Garyh

29-01-2007, 03:35 PM

Thanks John and Mike!! shall check that out..
If its clear tomorrow morn I might head off to a good horizon!!! none at home to many mountains..
Cheers Gary

jodee

29-01-2007, 05:40 PM

hey there,ive just joined this group cos ive been watching the comet for two weeks with my naked eye,exciting,but scary also, does anyone care to talk me out of thinking it may hit the earth???Seriously.

matt

29-01-2007, 05:47 PM

Jodee

It's already gone past the Earth and won't be back for about another 100,000 years or so.

Even then, it may not get as close as it has this time.

I think we're safe for now, at least from this one;)

loomberah

29-01-2007, 06:14 PM

See my post from this morning here and in the images section, I'm further North than you. The best time for you to see it is a bit before 5am, when its most visible, balancing increasing altitude above the horizon against increasing twilight.

cheers, Gordon

Garyh

30-01-2007, 10:09 AM

Thanks Gordon, for the info hope tonight offers nice clear skies!! last night a bit of a dud but least I saw it..yep about 5am you could notice the twilight so I`ll try to get ready by 4:30 am and image before 5am..
cheers Gary

matt

30-01-2007, 10:14 AM

It was still quite easy naked eye last night from Canberra:)

It has moved quite a bit to the south, and dimmed.

The moon's not helping much either. Wonder whether it will still be visible come the next new moon?

swannies1983

30-01-2007, 10:12 PM

Guess who's back Down Under!! :D That's right, me. After my flight from Prague was cancelled on the 24th of Jan due to snow, not being able to get a flight to Australia until the 28th of Jan, having a stopever in Tokyo for a day, missing the connecting flight to Adelaide from Sydney due to a large number of passengers at the Sydney airport, I finally made it back to Adelaide today.

I just had a look at the comet for the first time. While nowhere near its glorious performances which graced the southern skies a few weeks back, it is still a splendind sight (for me). Easily visible to the naked eye, despite the moon. I guess I will just have to drool over the pics on here to get some idea of what it really looked like :thumbsup:

glenc

31-01-2007, 05:14 AM

I have just been looking at the comet. It is fainter than 47Tuc, I would say it is about magnitude 4.5, maybe fainter. It was only just visible with the naked eye but haze and twilight were problems. The tail was at least 7 degrees long with 7x50 binoculars at 5am DST (UT+11) on 31/1/07.

DaveGee

31-01-2007, 07:43 AM

At last I can say I observed the comet (naked eye) twice in 12 hours.
Last night at 8:45pm and this morning at 4:55am. Very happy:rofl:
RegardsDave

erick

31-01-2007, 09:51 AM

Yes, Dave, great fun to see it twice at different ends of the day as I just managed to do on Australia Day! And a challenge as well, not on our willpower, but given the clouds and smoke that we've had across much of Australia off and on the last two weeks. Who could guarantee that a clear morning would be followed by a clear evening??

vespine

31-01-2007, 10:11 AM

I haven't managed to jump on since last week but I FINALLY got my scope out of my apartment and took it down to a car park against the beach just north of Brighton last Thursday. I invited a few friends and took a bottle of wine and it was really great! Had heaps of people come up and ask what I was doing and a few people were really interested in having a look, gathered quite a little crowd at one stage. Admittedly, as a few people have noted already, the 12" Lightbridge was a little disappointing on the comet, only from the 'bang for the buck' perspective, the comet was so big and bright it wasn't really a telescope object! The view through the bins was spectacular. But I did manage to find Orion nebula and omega centauri which blew everyone away, and yes, even the plain old moon ;) got massive "oooh"s! And to cap off the night, I even got Saturn, even thought the viewing was pretty average, it was still pretty impressive. So overall, it was probably one of the most pleasant night's viewing I've had.

mickoking

31-01-2007, 06:40 PM

I haven't seen the comet since I imaged it last week. But last night I had a peek and was pleasantly surprised to notice that it is still easily visible, tail and all. Go McNaught, Go :thumbsup:

After the full moon I'll do some more imaging with my humble compact.

IceAgeComing

31-01-2007, 08:53 PM

finally, a perfect night. I must have some sort of bad karma because the only time i was able to see it properly was during a full moon and when it was only magnitude 4. Nevermind though, it was still a great sight to see through binoculars..

on another note, a predicted -8 iridium flare failed to deliver tonight :(

fringe_dweller

31-01-2007, 09:21 PM

warning rant imminent!

Erick, thats a great point, as a mostly part time night skywatcher for the past 13 years or so, i have personally never seen so much unpredictabilty/changability in weather forecasts as I have seen in the last 2 or 3 years, I am talking only about my own small range/patch only of course.
I havent seen what the weather people used to call a 'dominant high' pressure system (they used to be massive, and that phrase was common here) for what seems an eternity, they pathetic wusses now - it's ooo ooo please dont hurt me mr big nasty northern low pressure sytem/trough/southern cold front ooo oooo i'll just fade away now *poof* and their gone, and they shrink down to wishy washy little weeners - wth!
A friend who has shared this frustration with the weather predictabitly, me and him are starting to think that something funny is definately going on with the climate/weather! admitadly cycles can work on long time scales, this i realise, but i remember as a kid the weather being quite different to recent years. so which is normal and which isnt :shrug:
this conversation has been had here before of course, but i just see more and more evidence of strange weather every passing year -
it sometimes seems we changed climates with brisbane, they got our dry clear weather, and we get more northern monsoonal stuff - never seen so much humid weather as in recent years in adelaide either
then theres the retrograde moving seasons! (ie we dont get an autumn much anymore - its just like er summer/winter - thats ya seasons folks) - but we wont go there! lol or increasing bushfire frequency - i mean, not to make light of a very serious matter, but come on, this is getting ridiculous now! you could just about call victorias huge bushfires just about an an 'annual' event now :rolleyes: set ya clock/calendar by them? oh its summer again, victorias on fire! cant you tell - is it any thing to do with sea and tree changers being a massive movement :shrug:

I am also looking at my magic crystal ball, and predict a large increase in percieved magnitude of comet after moon is out of the way ;)

fringe_dweller

31-01-2007, 09:49 PM

and before anyone says where have you been - its called a drought, i would say, droughts dont light fires ;)

GeoffW1

31-01-2007, 09:50 PM

Hi,

So the next comparable comet we see will be 8P/Tuttle, from mid Dec 07, appearing at about the same magnitude as P1/McNaught is now? Is that correct?

Cheers

GeoffW1

fringe_dweller

31-01-2007, 10:15 PM

Hi Geoff, I dont think we'll be having anything comparable for some time mate, unfortunately! you never know tho, there has been years in history were there have been two or 3! great comets in one year. you only have to look back at Hyakutake in 1996 (best for northerners for longer - circumpolar it was!! like a big clock hand!- we did get the tail pointing south west or west, so it was over our heads for a few days :) ) and then they got hale-bopp the following year! which hung around for months at a very decent object status, but there has been in history (maybe for only one hemisphere from memory, dont quote me on this tho - and i aint googling to get it right dammit ehehe) a 40 year period without a great comet! so who knows?

best future planner is this page, to my mind, from Seiichi Yoshida

http://www.aerith.net/comet/future-n.html

Tamtarn

01-02-2007, 07:49 AM

Thanks for the Comet future planner link Kearn........Great site :thumbsup::thumbsup:

fringe_dweller

01-02-2007, 04:44 PM

No worries Tamtarn :) Seiiche's site is a ripper, its essential viewing for me ;)

re absence of 'great comets' from a particular hemisphere, at least, i think? it may actaully be around 20 years, not 40 as i said earlier, well from west to hyakutake was 20 years for us! so there ya go!

Blue Skies

01-02-2007, 10:34 PM

Dragged myself out of bed and crept around on the road trying to spot the comet through the trees this morning at 5am, just caught it in a hole! Conditions weren't good with low cloud around and lots of moisture, so couldn't see it naked eye although it showed up in binoculars. It looked a pale shadow of it's former glory last week. Anyway, looking forward to getting the moon out of the evening sky this coming week and we'll see what we see!

fringe_dweller

02-02-2007, 02:26 AM

so did everyone see the incredibly elegant and skillfull onestop shop, in a nut shell explanation that was linked from the APOD, with the northern and southern halves of the tail, from the actual people responsible for the joined images?

essential reading and very enlightening for the curious :)

http://www.ts.astro.it/McNaught.html

go the subcomets!!!

Grinz

02-02-2007, 03:05 AM

Yes it is amazing - they did a grand job. I will find it most useful for the talk I talked myself into giving next week for our club :rolleyes:

fringe_dweller

02-02-2007, 03:29 AM

just say something about subcomets and headless tails and that about covers it ;) :thumbsup: :lol:

h0ughy

02-02-2007, 07:38 AM

http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~mkyoneto/star/mcnaught.htm this link has a wonderful set of images from the outset until just recently. simply amazing!

xstream

02-02-2007, 11:53 AM

Those images of the Comet and Aurora are absolutely stunning!

Grinz

02-02-2007, 08:08 PM

Yes came across them on Spaceweather.com. Fabulous stuff. Also love his shots of the comet also showing the LMC, SMC. 47Tuc & the Southern Milky Way. :eyepop: I was waiting for someone to get those shots, his were the first I saw and they are also technically marvellous. Like the one where it clearly shows the comet with the circumpolar stars.

His pictures and those of Gordon Garradd (& some others among you here who have done some exceptional things) belong on posters, don't you think?

Beetlejuice

02-02-2007, 11:20 PM

Hi All, new to this forum, have been following it with great interest since mid Jan but never registered so thought it was about time I did. I am in Perth WA and have been watching McNaught for a few weeks now. It all started with Halley and have been hooked ever since. Tried imaging on Jan 20th but very poor results allthough I got a reasonable shot of the crescent moon and venus after sunset. Has anyone seen the photo from a Perth beach taken on Australia day with fireworks, lightning and the comet all in the same image? Can't be sure if it is real or a photoshop job??? If anyone would like I can put a copy on for you. Meanwhile happy comet hunting.

cometcatcher

02-02-2007, 11:29 PM

Hi Beetlejuice and welcome to the forum!

My first comet was Halley also and have been adicted to comets after that.

The picture you mention has been posted here http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=16333&page=30

It is my opinion that it is a montage. You can read the reasons in that thread. I've been doing photo retouching on the computer now for about 13 years and can usually spot a "photoshop" job.

Beetlejuice

02-02-2007, 11:45 PM

Thanks for the welcome Cometcatcher, the link you have mentioned shows nothing about the Perth image and the thread is dated around the 6th of Jan whereas the image should be from around the 26th Jan. Have you given me the correct link or am I missing something :)
Darrell

cometcatcher

02-02-2007, 11:52 PM

You have to go to page 30 post #593. :) http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=188888&postcount=593

iceman

03-02-2007, 06:57 AM

It seems spaceweather has given up on McNaught already?

fringe_dweller

04-02-2007, 02:46 AM

Hi Mike, I saw spaceweather's remarking on the absence of P1 images, and they surmised wisely, it was to do with the bright moon mostly - but now that text is gone, but they've followed smaller comets than P1 currently is still, in fact when they reached a similar brightness and visual tail length, there is much celebration, from memory ;)
I think the NH have been terrific sports about it, and have shown great interest in seeing it by proxy over the internet, the first great comet of modern widespread broadband/homecomputer era? - anyway what Terry (cometguy) said earlier was spot on, about it being overdue, it is certainly our turn, in fact waaay overdue, to get a far southern spectacular comet - they were like 3 or 4 'best views of the' great comets ahead of us already, and they know it :) i think many of them enjoyed their half of the show - they saw an easy daylight comet, that *alone* is top shelf quality stuff!!, and its tail wrapped ect.

BTW Sunday night 4th /Monday morning, the 5th february, marks the beginning of the comet's head/coma becoming visually circumpolar/allnighter for latitudes about 35 south, and further south it already is of course - not that its much above the horizon, initially. :)

pioneerVicki

05-02-2007, 09:16 PM

Anyone know how the comet compared with the Great Comet of 1910? (And I don't mean Halleys.) Some are calling it the 'Comet of the Century'. It has been good; but this is only 2007.

glenc

06-02-2007, 07:27 AM

Saw McNaught again last night. It seemed to be fainter than 47 Tuc but that could have been due to its low altitude and Casino's light pollution. The tail was visible with the naked eye and was at least 4 degrees long. Looked at it with 7x50s and 20x80s too. The double star JC25 was in the tail.

OneOfOne

06-02-2007, 07:57 AM

Actually, at the moment it is not only the "Comet of the Century", but also the "Comet of the Millenium"...woo hoo! How smooth is that! But as you say, it is only 2007...sort of like January 1 is always the hotest, coldest, wetest and driest day of the year, until the next day!:lol:

Neil Dwiar

07-02-2007, 10:46 PM

Have been on holidays at Goolwa the last week, and appart from one night where the clouds spoilt the view, found the comet each night. Gradually faded and once I knew where to look, could find it each night. Looks a lot different from when I first sighted it back in Jan. Tail then was long and thin, and as it's got further away it has fanned out rather spectacularly. only been using 10 x 50 binoculars,but the view has been fine. Have to upgrade the bino's, while the view of the heavens has been gteat, I'm sure with an upgrade it can only get better.:eyepop:

Goolwa for those who are not from Sth Aust. is about 80 klms to the south of adelaide near Victor Harbor.

fringe_dweller

08-02-2007, 05:14 PM

just a note, when making estimations of a comets brightness, care should be taken to to try to use objects/stars at around the same elevation as the comet's head/coma, (atmospheric extinction) evry degree of elevation makes a big diff of course.
also dont use variables or stars with a BV value over (+) 0.5 (altho you can use up to 1.00 in a pinch i spose - the higher the BV the more towards red - ie Antares is B-V + 1.86, comets heads tend to be green/blue of course :)

Starkler

08-02-2007, 05:26 PM

No clouds and no moon until 10pm , I might go mcNaughting again :party:

Beetlejuice

08-02-2007, 09:26 PM

Checked it out in Perth last night before the moon came up but could only just make it out with the naked eye, cool in my 12 x 50's tho':) Any thoughts if we will get a brightening??
Darrell

Starkler

08-02-2007, 11:11 PM

I had a look tonight and it certainly looks very different to a few weeks ago.

Much fainter and somewhat difficult naked eye, requires a dark site to see now. The tail fans out over about a 35 degree arc, and about 3 degrees of it was visible.
Best view was in the 15x70 binos.

jodee

11-02-2007, 10:53 PM

Hey there people,lately i have been completely absorbed with wonder where comet mcnaught is heading?if anyone could explain where they think it is going i would be forever grateful.I dream very much that it is heading for earth,is this possible?Or do i just fear it.Kind reguards,jodee.:help: No,im not crazy!!I'm serious.:D

astroron

11-02-2007, 11:51 PM

:hi: there Jodee Comet P1 Mcnaught is on what is called an Hyperbolic orbit and is going away from the Sun/Earth at a great rate of knotts, and as such has no chance of hitting the Earth, It is on it's way possibly out of the Solar System never to return, so you have nothing to be concerned about.:thumbsup:

jodee

12-02-2007, 02:20 PM

YOU HAVE PUT THE HUGEST SMILE ON MY FACE!!!Thankyou so much for taking the time to write me,i see it all the time right in my backyard and had to ask.I feel much better now thanks again,now i will enjoy it like you all do!!!THANX A MILLION!!!

15-02-2007, 12:55 PM

Hello

We tried unsuccessfully to view the comet last night, we were out beyond Pakenham about 10.30 pm. We had a planisphere and the great finder chart put on the viewing guides thread by avandonk (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/member.php?u=428) on 11-02-2007 at 09:04 AM:
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=16334..

We found the area of the sky where the comet was supposed to be, to have few bright objects in it, so it was difficult to star hop using binoculars/naked eye. Looking at the finder chart, and objects surrounding the expected location of the comet:

1. The Southern Cross and the Pointers were obvious. The coal sac was obvious too, so the skies were reasonably dark.
2. The Large and Small Magellanic clouds were obvious, as was 47 Tucana.
3. We seem to have found Octans and Triangulum Australe OK.
4. Then the clouds rolled in from the West.

When trying to work out why we did not find the comet, I have the following queries:
1. Maybe the comet had set?
2. What diameter would the comet be now, compared with the size of nearby objects 47 Tucane.
3. What length would its tail be, and compared with what? eg diameter of Large Magellanic Cloud.
4. Are my 7 x 50 binoculars too small? (Kassel binoculars, 30 years old)

Thanks for any help you can give here! If possible, we would still like to see the comet, as we have not been able to do so thus far.

Al.

erick

15-02-2007, 02:01 PM

Al, I also tried last night under darkish skies in NSW, but didn't see it through 20x80s. But I couldn't start looking until 11pm. I'll try earlier tonight, if I can. It's there somewhere.

acropolite

15-02-2007, 10:30 PM

I don't know what you guys are doing wrong but HRH & I could still see it naked eye tonight from around 10 onwards, HRH & I plodded 300m up the road (as we have for the past weeks) and over a fence then a further 100m (braving mosquitos). HRH Liz was the first to spot it yet again Once located it was still clearly visible with the naked eye. Like the 3 wise men (2 wise old farts anyway) we followed the star all the way home and lo and behold discovered that it was clearly visible from our own backyard and even from our main deck off the living area. Funny how the changes in road direction alter perception and we've been trekking for no real gain all these weeks.!!! Might get the LX out and try some piggyback shots at the weekend. :camera:

15-02-2007, 11:21 PM

Hi,

I wonder if our latitude is affecting our ability to see the comet, eg rise and set times might be different.

Any thoughts on this?

Thanks
Al.

erick

16-02-2007, 08:34 AM

Got it last night - down between the trees and in the glow of Mittagong lights!

Around 10:30-10:45pm - come vertically down from 47 Tuc - move a little south along the horizon and back up maybe 5-7 degrees in altitude. (My horizon is sloping and elevated in that direction so could be more degrees for a flat horizon.) Couldn't see it naked eye, but could see coma and part of the tail in my 20x80s, the only binoculars I have with me.

Al, if I have my facts straight, it no longer sets for the southern states - circumpolar now (or very soon?)

17-02-2007, 12:17 AM

Thanks Erick and Phil -

Will keep trying to find it! Well done on your successful comet rendez-vous!

Al

glenc

19-02-2007, 05:30 AM

Just looked at the comet at 5am DST. It is still a naked eye object and the tail is 4.5 degrees long using 20x80 binoculars. The tail is visible above nu Tuc but not at delta Tuc.

19-02-2007, 10:56 PM

Well done Glenc! How big is 4.5 degrees for the tail? eg diameter of the moon, I don't understand degrees in relation to astronomical objects.
Thanks
Al

glenc

20-02-2007, 05:38 AM

Al, the moon is 0.5 degree across, so the comet's tail was 9 times the moon's diameter yesterday. Glen

Kazza

20-02-2007, 11:36 AM

I am in Central Qld and had 3 weeks of cloud at the best viewing time in Mackay, then have been out of action for 2 weeks as was having our first child, but was wondeing if it may still be visible up here. I think based on what I have read that for me, the only time would be early eveninng with a good s-sw horizon- does this sound right?

erick

20-02-2007, 01:14 PM

Excuses Excuses!!!! ;)

Congratulations Kazza - I bet that's an exciting time for you as it was for me (many years ago!)

I'm sure some of the experts can print charts to help you, but think about having a look in the early morning. You'll be up feeding or rocking a baby, I expect! If, around 5am, you can see the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, then just continue almost horizontally further south from the SMC and you'll come to the comet with tail pointing back towards the SMC. Check the recent morning photos in the images thread. Good luck!