Comet McNaught (2006/P1) - discussions - Page 18

fringe_dweller · #**341** 17-01-2007, 05:36 PM

Scott, I would still call it a slow fading

I remember the rate at which V1 faded in feb 2003 - and this is a SLOW fader - if that is fading from mag 4-5 max brightness from sunday (EDIT: as i saw many estimates at - i know some were saying mag - 6 but the majority were saying -4 or 5) then I would suggest that those estimates were too conservative - it is still brighter than/equal to venus imo, and i am not exactly new to comet estimates, altho not of this nature/type of course, not many have seen something like this, not many references, even if it fades to a MERE 0 or +2 mag when in dark skies - with a nearly as bright and big tail, there is certainly nothing to be worried about as far as a spectacle is concerned.

fringe_dweller · #**342** 17-01-2007, 06:38 PM

so what is this rate of decrease?? - i have yet to see a suggestion? is it .25 of a mag a day - half a magnitude? a whole magnitude!!?? what?
that would be much more interesting to know

EDIT: bear in my mind, to my knowledge, i believe the MAXIMUM rate of linear increase/decrease in magnitude for a comet under normal circumstances (ie no disruption, defunctness edit: forward scattering, which was over on monday?) is about half a magnitude a day - extrapolate that to the weekend

dennisjames1 · #**343** 17-01-2007, 07:20 PM

yes i know how you feel my Kilcoy friend.. same here every night cloud and no rain makes it worse... will it ever clear....oh well

asterix · #**344** 17-01-2007, 09:22 PM

I finally saw McNaught today! Picked it up just above the treeline, between clouds, just as a light shower started! It seemed a bit fainter than Venus, definite tail visible. Only saw it for about a minute.

erick (Eric) · #**345** 17-01-2007, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dennisjames1

yes i know how you feel my Kilcoy friend.. same here every night cloud and no rain makes it worse... will it ever clear....oh well

Completely clouded over in Melbourne tonight - no joy here. No rain either.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #**346** 17-01-2007, 09:37 PM

Success!
After a rich sunset, blazing pink and orange, the sky started to fade and darken. I tracked down Venus then swung over to Comet McNaught. Absolutely fabulous.
With heavy rain clouds coming quite rapidly from behind, I spent a wonderful 15 minutes or so observing.
I took some photos with the Canon then captured an .avi through the eyepiece of the 10"Dob using the Panasonic DV camera.
I'll post these in the imaging thread.

iceman (Mike) · #**347** 17-01-2007, 09:43 PM

Wow it was GREAT tonight! I only glimpsed it for about 2 minutes - low and thick cloud on the horizon spoiled most of the show, but patience eventually paid off. The tail was MUCH longer tonight and the core seemed brighter too?

Maybe it was just more in the darkness, but it looked brighter than the other night - the tail was definitely more spectacular.

Managed to snap a few pics and then it was gone behind cloud again. Will post them next week. If today was anything to go by, the next few days at Lostock will be great!

Lee · #**348** 17-01-2007, 09:46 PM

Caught it again tonight from Newcastle, as it wove in and out of thick cloud bands.... got some nice views with the ED80 this time. I feel it has faded from last night, still a nice spectacle though - it is still naked eye in the twilight, pretty good!

Dobman (Simon) · #**349** 17-01-2007, 09:58 PM

WOW. Have just seen my first comet!!!!! Logged onto Starry Nite Pro & saw Comet McN should be visible so went out to the back garden & there it was!!!! After a few minutes I had to get the ladder out so I could keep looking( quite precarious from the top rung!!) And thats from suburban Launceston. With my 10x 50's got quite a good view of the head & tail. The tail is very long is'nt it? Cant wait for Lostock, will the view be better from there?

Zander · #**350** 17-01-2007, 10:05 PM

awsome tonight!
much better than the other nights, the tail was heaps long ey.
had to get up on the roof to see it as much as possible.
very nice

astroron (Ron) · #**351** 17-01-2007, 11:21 PM

I observed the comet for the first time today at 17:15 , it was in thin stringy clouds, and not visible in Bino's,at the time it was at about 26deg altitude. I observed it with a 20cm SCT.

After finding Venus which was a neat little bright ball soon picked up
Comet P1 as bright yellowish and slightly elongated with no other detail. About the same mag as Venus, but it was difficult to get a true estimate because of the cloud.

I did not see any tail as the clouds thickened as the sun went down and was lost to view.

MrB (Simon) · #**352** 18-01-2007, 01:21 AM

Another great night of viewing!
Tail definatelly seemed longer, but head had dimmed a little methinks. Still plenty bright tho. Unfortunatelly, cloud moved in around 9ish.

Last night I reckoned 100+ cars... well the beach carpark was full tonight!
Had trouble finding a spot. This carpark would be close to a kilometer long!

swannies1983 (Dan) · #**353** 18-01-2007, 03:11 AM

Great reports (and pics). As mentioned earlier, I am missing out on this comet as I have been travelling over in Europe. I am getting back to Adelaide on Australia Day. Could someone tell me (or give me a link) of magnitude estimations of the comet over the coming week? I assume it would decline in brightness but it might still be rather bright by the time I get back.

Thanks

IceAgeComing · #**354** 18-01-2007, 04:22 AM

Hey all, this morning, without intending to, I woke up.. just before sunrise. So I thought, what the hell, ill go try find this comet. My south eastern views was obscured by about 5-10 degrees of hill, other than that it was a perfect morning. I saw Jupiter and the crescent Moon, unfortunately no comet

(its hard to find a ~-3 magnitude object without knowing exactly where it is)

Last night it was very cloudy out west but i caught a glimps in a gap between the clouds and the ocean just before it set. It wasn't a very overwelming sight though, it was only a slight twinkle in the sky. Caused by the thick atmosphere and probably a distant cloud. I hope this clear weather holds out tonight so I can get a twilight view!

[1ponders] (Paul) · #**355** 18-01-2007, 08:59 AM

IAC and

You won't see the comet well in the morning as the sun will already be up, though it is visibel in daylight if you know where to look. Your best bet is right on sunset to about an hour after sunset.

erick (Eric) · #**356** 18-01-2007, 09:28 AM

Would someone care to enlighten me, please? I expect that we see the comet because of sunlight reflected off the gas and dust being released by the comet. As it moves away from the sun, as it starts to cool, less gas and dust is released by the main body, and therefore the visibility of the cloud around the main body will decrease. However, all the dust released and forming part of the tail continues to reflect sunlight - hence I expect the tail to remain much the same visibility for quite a while, except, of course, by moving away from the sun, there is less sunlight reaching the dust particles to be reflected. Plus, as I understand it, the comet is receding from the earth as well - hence less visible?

I'm just heading towards the question of how visible this tail will be in the next weeks as it moves into dark skies? And hoping that the answer is "Very much so!".

glenc (Glen) · #**357** 18-01-2007, 09:45 AM

The comet will be visible in the morning soon.
See

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/a...2&d=1168117676

IceAgeComing · #**358** 18-01-2007, 10:28 AM

thanks for the info guys. Its a perfect day today! If clouds some how creep in later... i'll cry

ving (David) · #**359** 18-01-2007, 11:12 AM

hi iceageiscoming, you are already here

welcome to the forum

tornado33 · #**360** 18-01-2007, 02:36 PM

Hi all
Today the comet was somewhat difficult to see in daylight with my 10 inch scope despite a clear blue sky. At the rate its fading I do not expect to see it in daylight again (anyway Im going to Lostock tomorrow).

Tis been a good daytime comet, Ive never seen one with the sun up let alone in the middle of the day, and visible in my scope in daytime for a full week. I suspect Mcnaught will put on a reasonable night time show as it moves away from the sun till it fades.
Scott