Last August, veteran comet-hunter R. H. McNaught found a new snowball orbiting the Sun. Now called C/2006 P1 (McNaught), or just Comet McNaught, it’s going to be visible for the next few days to the unaided eye, but you’ll have to look carefully: even though it’s getting incredibly bright, it’s so near the Sun it’ll be low to the horizon.
Here’s the view from my area tonight around 5:00 p.m. local time:
The Sun is the yellow circle just above the horizon (so, duh, it will still be up, but I wanted to show you the geometry). The comet is above and to the right of the Sun, and I’ve marked it with red lines. The marked pink dot to the lower left is Mercury, which will be a very tough object to spot. Venus will be a lot more obvious, far above and to the left of Mercury (all directions are for the northern hemisphere).
People are reporting magnitudes of 0 and -1 for this comet, which is brighter than Jupiter (the fourth brightest object in the sky after the Sun, the Moon, and Venus). This would be a barnstormer if it were up high in the sky, but since it’s so close to the Sun the bright twilight sky will wash a lot of it out. Still, this is very much worth going after if you have binoculars.
For your own viewing conditions, I suggest going to Heavens Above (enter your latitude and longitude to get a local map) or Sky and Telescope’s Comet McNaught page.
January 11th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Found the comet myself last night. Still getting over the shock the tail was huge. Sadly no such luck tonight.
ms
January 11th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
We tried to look last night — sigh — clouds. That’s what happens when you live in a rain forest. We’ll keep trying. SE Alaska is not so good for sky watching but we do it when we can. Unfortunately all the good stuff does not check out the weather forecast!
January 11th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I think spotting it with the naked eye will be pretty hard, yesterday I just managed to see its tail, by then the nucleus of the comet was already below the roof line.
It’s an obvious binocular object, but its going to be moving too close to the Sun, on the plus side it should be visible in SOHOs images soon.
Got some pictures of it yesterday http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/2007/01/11/comet_mcnaught_c_2006_p1
January 11th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Been observing the comet from here in the UK, despite the ******* weather!!
http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/Cumbrian-Sky
Photos taken by people who don’t have to contend with the British winter skies show a glorious object…
January 11th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Tell me about it, it was cloudy here (in the south-west, UK) until yesterday evening, and then it was a struggle to get an image without cloud in as it just kept rolling in, the break only lasted for a few hours until it rolled back in again. Phew!
January 11th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
The UK does not have a lock on bad weather. High overcast Tuesday and low thick clouds on the wester horizon yesterday. Now it’s solid overcast, with predictions of rain through the middle of next week!
January 11th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
I hope to get a good view of it tonight and take advantage of the unseasonably clear (and cold!) skies here in Seattle.
Sorry I missed you on your visit here, Phil!
January 11th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I live in Vancouver, Canada, where it is not worth bothering about these things in the winter because it’s going to be cloudy. But I’m in Calgary for a couple of days and it’s perfectly clear here. So I thought, damn, I didn’t bring my binoculars. But my hotel room faces south, so I looked out the window at about the right time. Okay, there’s Venus, go a bit to the right, and THERE IT IS! right over Hooters, don’t need binoculars and it isn’t anywhere near dark. That’s a bright one for sure.
January 11th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
I got a few co-workers outside to look at this for a few minutes before it sank below the mountains. It was just visible to the unaided eye.
Thanks for the heads-up.
January 11th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Any chance for southern hemisphere observers, or is it on the wrong side of the eccliptic?
January 12th, 2007 at 6:10 am
Seen here in High Wycombe, UK (between London and Oxford) on Wednesday and Thursday evenings by various members of Wycombe Astronomical Society. One nice picture submitted to our image gallery so far:
http://wycombeastro.org.uk/gallery/comets/stan_McNaught_20070110
January 12th, 2007 at 9:15 am
[…] “Bright comet this week“. Ainda o cometa do momento, no Bad Astronomy. Ainda sobre este tema, a ler “Comet Mcnaught (C/2006 P1) Finally! (with pictures)“, no Astroprof’s Page, e “Comet C/2006 P1 Mcnaught”, primeira e segunda partes, no Davep’s Astronomy, e “See the Brighest Comet in 30 years“, no Universe Today. “The Interstellar medium along the Sun’s Trajectory“, no Astroprof’s Page. […]
January 12th, 2007 at 6:54 pm
[…] The skies were surprisingly clear today. Four of us walked outside after sunset to a bridge near the office, and saw Comet McNaught. It was visible from ~5:10/5:15 to 5:28, at which point it slipped below the line of hills to the west. […]
January 13th, 2007 at 4:22 am
I’l have to wait about 20 hours to see the McNaught Comet, so I hope it will be fine. I notice that Mark Smith got his shot, I presume in the clear sky over near Parkes, in Australia, so it was a pity I didn’t know about it last week when I came thru that area. However I was not on any computer for the previous month. Such is life.
Do I detect a boo boo in the BA sky sketch above showing the tail of the comet NOT facing away from the Sun? Um, er, or should I have not mentioned it?
Ivan.
January 18th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Somebody tell me it wasn’t just wishful thinking!
Late afternoon ( 4:45 p.m. or so) on January 17 in SAlem County, New Jersey (everything I read said Comet McNaught would not be visible in nothern hemisphere after the 15th) I noticed a “sliver” of brightness low in the sky as I drove home (I WAS looking for the comet since I read it had brightened immensely and was visible in daylight–I figured that meant northern hemisphere daylight. Worst of all, I hadn’t been able to spot it in several earlier attempts during the previous week).
Thinking at first it might be a distant airplane contrail, I noticed it did not move and continued to be visible over a period of 15 minutes or more. When I arrived home, I grabbed my binoculars and WOW!!!!! The tail split into two, shimmered around and came together, split again and was spectacular until it got too low to the horizon and blinked out of sight.
Just goes to show, you never know!!!!!
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:03 am
This week we can see it in Uruguay, it is amazing to see it at plain view, without needing binoculars. We are going to miss it after is gone
February 5th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Scotland’s not the place for clear skies - whatever the season - but a brilliant view of Comet McNaught the nicht in bright cloudless skies, virtually due west @ 1900 hours, even without binoculars; with binoculars, the sight is tremendous. Viewed over Cowal peninsula from Helensburgh.