Comet McNaught (2006/P1) - discussions

[CometGuy]

jjj,

Comet McNot for me as well But interesting a sucker hole appeared in the cloud to the west around where I was (on Cleveland-Redland Bay Road at Victoria point) but I think I positioned myself too far north to see the comet. Pays to be mobile though. Amazing only 15 minutes before hand it was heavily overcast.

Terry

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Clouds ..Rain .. storms .....Comet Mcnot !
oh well there is always tomorrow, or the day after OR Astrocamp

[asterix]

Terry,

I was looking through that sucker hole to. No luck though

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Hi,

Got about 20 min marvellous viewing just now before the comet disappeared behind my neighbour's tree. It was subjectively much more obvious than Venus through my 10 x 50s when I first went looking.

I was pleasantly surprised by the skyline at my location being lower in elevation than I had thought.

Out with the chainsaw tonight, and we will be all set up and waiting tomorrow.

GeoffW1

[matt]

Hooorayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

I got my first view tonight.

My new 10x50s arrived this morning, just in time.

At first I couldn't see it because it was hidden by a powerline, but then I took a few steps forward and there it was!!

And the head and tail are really surprisingly bright. That was a real surprise and pleasure.

Also, it looks like it moves quite fast.

I'm stoked. I reckon the binos will be given a good workout before this little beauty's gone. It's my first comet since the fizzer that was Halley.

I'm now a confirmed comet fan

PS - my girlfriend (member name Raezee) was able to see it naked eye! (I couldn't)

[loomberah (Gordon)]

The whole Northern half of NSW is under cloud this evening, so still no evening views of the comet here, even with today's thinner smoke haze. The smoke thinned quite a bit over last night, but it was still very whitish around the sun throughout the day. All my attempts to find the comet in 10X50B failed dismally. I know I was looking in exactly the right spot, but it just wasn't visible. Lots of bright dandelion seeds drifting by though!


Gordon

[sejanus (Gavin)]

I just saw it! Got a great view south coast of sydney on old princes hwy facing westish with my bino's - looked awesome!!

I will bring my scope out tomorow night for it.

[dcnicholls]

Finally... Canberra still had a fair bit of smoke in the sky but completely cloud free. Found P1 in my 10x50 binocs (hand held) a few seconds before the Sun disappeared behind Mt Tidbinbilla. As GeoffW1 noted, paradoxically it was easier to find than Venus. Naked eye visible, but with a lot of difficulty. The smoke precluded seeing more than about 20 mins of tail in 10x50s.

Let's hope the smoke clears by tomorrow.

DN

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Comet McNot is a bummer here too. Bushfire smoke has blotted out the sky!!!! I can't even see Venus!!!

I keep searching every 2 mins with the 20x80's but to no avail

And tomorrow afternoon we have thunderstorms predicted

[Mikezoom]

Same as dcnicholls here, was beautiful in the 15x70's, just viewable with the naked eye (even got some pics) but smoke haze cut it dramatically. Still very exciting, first comet here since '86 too!

Mike.

[seeker372011 (Narayan)]

my first sighting today... even though there was low cloud on the horizon about 50 people gathered on a hilltop in Winston Hills, Sydney had excellent viewing till the comet disappeared behind the cloud

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Originally Posted by astroron

I havn't seen the Comet yet, CLOUDS and HILLS being the problem in that order

Don't worry about the hills - as soon as the sun is hidden by your favourite mountain, it pops into view just above and to the right (well, it did for me!).

Clouds on the other hand - be VERY worried

[styleman333]

Drove around for ages trying to find a good spot to see it then the young bloke yells out " There it is " ! And there it was ....... easily to spot with the naked eye, looked magnificent with the binos .

Cant wait till tommorrow night to set up the scope and have a good look

Great sight !

[Zander]

wow!

awsome views in adelaide, skies are heaps clear!!
too bad i couldn't watch it right down to the horizon
i got on my shed roof and got my crummy 60mm refractor up there
took sum real dodgey pics of it with a dig cam held to the finderscope

awsome sight though, great tail!!

[Satchmo]

We have a popular West facing lookout here at Berowra and maybe 20 people gathered, with a pretty good sky up until the last 3 or 4 degrees of haze ( bushfire smoke ?) .

The comet was easy naked eye most of the time and at least people were adaptive and seemed pleased they could see something even if it was just a tiny star like blob to them. The view in my 20 X 80s showed a bright nucleus a few arc minutes acrossand maybe 8 to 10 arc minutes of tail though I'm sure this was just the bright bit from the coma not the gas tail.

I wish the media wouldn't hype comets up so much , it lets the public down a little : I can think of many comets I've seen far more spectacular than this though the nucleus is surely as bright as anything I've seen.

I'm hoping that with the comet higher up by Lostock the tail will be a much better display

Mark

[Lee]

Beautiful!
Took two friends up to Mt Sugarloaf (with half of the rest of Newcastle as it turned out!).... some people were sort of saying "Is that all" - I wanted to belt them and yell - "this is a comet you can still see naked eye at 1 degree altitude!!!!!" - once in a lifetime stuff.
Won't forget the DSLR memory card tomorrow....

[Finn]

I tried for ages to find a good vantage point from Eltham, through viewbank and finally around Heidelberg and Heidelberg Heights. Finally found a good vantage point around the industrial area just south east of Latrobe Uni in Bundoora, but there is just too much smoke haze to see anything. Venus was obscured as well. I don't like my chances for the next few nights either if the wind continues from the north and keeps the smoke haze around Melbourne.

Damn!!

[okiscopey (Mike)]

Yess!!! At last, after two days of no joy!

Observed the comet from North Bondi tonight (Monday), took 5 mins to pick it up through 11x70 binos as soon as the sun had set (still a bit of Eastern Suburbs sea haze around). It became naked-eye after 20 mins and set after about 40. Had 20x90's on a tripod as well so turned into a community event for the local residents - just the sort of thing I like!

An absolutely beautiful sight ... the word 'ethereal' comes to mind.

Couldn't see Mercury at all - as elusive as ever.

Now I suppose its a race over the next few days between McNaught's reducing brightness and its higher altitude and darker sky.

Good luck to everyone for clear skies and low horizons.

Now the word 'Coopers' comes to mind!

[sejanus (Gavin)]

hey did anyone else see the 2 trails from the comet? i.e. it's tail appeared to me through my bino's as 2 seperate streams close together - my wife also noticed this, and our neighbours 9yr old did as well.

i just havent seen anyone mention it. Using 7x50's here.

[The FishMan]

Originally Posted by Finn

I tried for ages to find a good vantage point from Eltham, through viewbank and finally around Heidelberg and Heidelberg Heights. Finally found a good vantage point around the industrial area just south east of Latrobe Uni in Bundoora, but there is just too much smoke haze to see anything. Venus was obscured as well. I don't like my chances for the next few nights either if the wind continues from the north and keeps the smoke haze around Melbourne.

Damn!!

I am in the same area, I tried the Freeway Public Golf Course in Bulleen and was unhappy as I could see nothing. I am going to try Westfield Doncaster tomorrow as this is where I do my photography of Thunderstorms.