What an absolutely glorious sight! Memories of 1965 come flooding back. I was 20 then, on board a cargo ship, the Port New Plymouth, crossing the Pacific heading for Panama, comet Ikeya-Seki stretched out across the sky beside Corvus the Crow. I still have my copy of Nortons Star Atlas with the comets path pencilled in. I was completing a deck apprenticeship, studying navigation. Knew all the stars for navigation but wasn't much interested in anything else in the night sky, but Ikeya-Seki changed all that! Tonight, after an agonising week waiting for cloud and smoke to go away, there was that magical sight again! Inspirational, emotional, made me feel 20 again! And to think that most people are sitting watching TV oblivious to the beauty and wonder of the night sky outside!
Thank you Kaoru Ikeya, thank you Tsutomu Seki, good on ya Rob McNaught!
Chris