Starship Asterisk*

by **Nodonn** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:23 am

I like McNaught's own pictures. Here's where he's hosting the ones he's taken this last week or so. Some are fairly nice and give an indication of the show the southern hemisphere's been getting (well until tonight, damned cloudy lol).

http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/%7Ermn/C2006P1new.htm

Very nice show last night, huge tail and very bright.

by **harry** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:25 pm

Hello All

I just hope it does not call earth home.

by **soupphysics** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:55 am

Should we just change the site name to McNaught Of The Day!!?

It's been on APOD on January 5,9,13,15,17,18,19,20 and 22.

Do we need to see more almost identical pictures of it? A couple of them stands out, but this is too much.

l3p3r, your picture is good. Atleast as good as the ones on APOD. Nice demonstration that you don't need any new 10 Mpix camera to take good pictures. At 3.2 Mpix, it's really already enough.

by **BMAONE23** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:51 pm

I can't wait to hear an update about that Rugby ball shaped, Pluto sized, KBO that might be affected by Neptune. What a comet that would make.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6268799.stm

by **iamlucky13** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 5:36 pm

Hehe. Yeah, I think they could have found a few non-McNaught pictures for the last couple days...but not today.

Today's picture is really impressive, and it's the only one I've seen from a reasonably dark sky.

by **BMAONE23** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:04 pm

I agree with you devany in thet todays APOD is quite spectacular. It is too bad that we will never pass through the tail though, What a meteor shower that would be, but; given the size of the comet, it is then good that there is no chance of our paths crossing in its current orbit.

by **devany** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:59 pm

I agree they've been getting a bit tiresome, but today's is the most spectacular comet picture I've ever seen. And given that the photo was taken by the original discoverer, it's certainly worthy of APOD (imo).

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070122.html

by **Hektor** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:42 pm

8 of the last 10 APOD photos were of McNaught. Enough already!

Let's move on to something more interesting, eh?

by **l3p3r** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:47 pm

Hi all!!

I got a good photo from the top of the mountain (Mt Wellington, Tasmania, Aus) on the 17th

Full size

Just with a standard digital camera.

Couldn't help but show it off

by **soupphysics** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:48 pm

It's not that amazing. Nothing special to see it with you naked eye. The picture are better, and there's plenty of them. I don't see what's so interesting about looking at it.

by **DavidLeodis** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 1:10 pm

I never did see the comet, which is a pity as it is an amazing sight judged by the images I've seen. One thing I've noticed is that it seems to have a very curved tail. Is such a marked curve normal?

by **jacksonpd** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:35 am

On tuesday night I went to a hillside park in suburban sydney for an excellent view of the comet. There were about 80 - 100 people in the park watching it.
It seemed bigger than venus though not a sharp.

I tried to impress upon my kids how good this was but they just wanted to play on the swings.

by **soupphysics** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:45 am

soupphysics wrote:
Galactic Groove wrote:
soupphysics wrote:Do we really need to see this commet almost every day on apod?
It's not exactly a galaxy or nebula that'll be around for viewing for thousands or millions of years.......
I guess you are right. I just thought it was overdone a little, since they are all pretty much the exact same.

It was on apod on January 5, 9, 13 and 15.

And now again on Jan 17 and 18. The Jan 17 pic atleast was different, since it was from space. The rest of them are the exact same. You've seen one, you've seen all 5 of them.

by **Andy Wade** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:58 pm

Orca wrote:"Garrr," says I, in a pirate's voice; I never did catch it. We had a few clear days here, but they were the last few where the comet was visible...but just barely above the horizon. Couldn't see it without an extensive trip to find a clear hilltop or some such location.

I'll have to settle for APOD images on my desktop.

Me too. Went right up on T'moortops an'all. It were a reight downer.
It pees it down ere for two weeks, then the first night it were clear, the bloomin' thing had set on us. bu99er.

On second thoughts, a translation might be useful...

I also had a similar experience. I visited the highest hill on the moorland area near to where I live, to try and view this comet, and I was rather disappointed.
I'm afraid that the weather here of late has been rather inclement with high levels of precipitation and heavy cloud laden skies and high winds for the past fortnight. And when the weather finally cleared, I discovered that this comet had unfortunately set on Britain.
How sad.

by **Orca** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:55 pm

"Garrr," says I, in a pirate's voice; I never did catch it. We had a few clear days here, but they were the last few where the comet was visible...but just barely above the horizon. Couldn't see it without an extensive trip to find a clear hilltop or some such location.

I'll have to settle for APOD images on my desktop.

by **BMAONE23** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:32 pm

Something similar happens with respect to Venus. As the morning star, when Venus rises, it is located more southerly with respect to the area on the horizon where the sun rises. When Venus is the evening star, like now, it sets is a more southerly spot on the horizon than the sun does. Venus is always viewed to be more southerly on the horizon than the sun.

by **BMAONE23** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 5:36 pm

The stars rotate around polar north so, depending on your latitude, ther will appear to rotate also with respect to their orientation. If you watch tonight, you will notice in the east that the Pleades cluster rises first, followed by the Taurus constellation, then Orion rises on his back. this is for northern hemisphere observers at approx N37-38deg lat. Then, as they set, ther all set together with Orion standing, not lying down.

by **soupphysics** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:56 am

Galactic Groove wrote:
soupphysics wrote:Do we really need to see this commet almost every day on apod?
It's not exactly a galaxy or nebula that'll be around for viewing for thousands or millions of years.......

I guess you are right. I just thought it was overdone a little, since they are all pretty much the exact same.

It was on apod on January 5, 9, 13 and 15.

by **FreebirdsWB** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:50 pm

The answer to seeing it in AM and PM is the turning of the earth.

Compare the morning and evening and imagine the earth spinning.

Sorry, I know that's not a great explanation. Probably too simplistic. Another way to think about it is this... the comet is neither leading nor trailing the sun... it's off to the side.

by **iamlucky13** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:52 pm

John Carswell wrote:Would anyone have time and patience to explain to an uneducated amateur why the comet was visible at sunrise and sunset? I thought things had to be on one side of the sun or the other.

For a second, I wanted to think the answer was almost obvious, but as I thought about it, I'm not sure. If it's visible just before sunrise, it must precede the sun's arc through the sky. If it's visible just after sunset, it must follow the sun's arc through the sky, correct? Perhaps in actuallity the tilt and curvature of the earth come into play here?

Galactic Groove wrote:It's not exactly a galaxy or nebula that'll be around for viewing for thousands or millions of years.......

It's also something a very large number of astro-fans are currently very interested in. The editors are responding to popular sentiment. I personally am enjoying the pictures, but I guess the novelty wears off faster for some than others.

by **Galactic Groove** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:41 pm

soupphysics wrote:Do we really need to see this commet almost every day on apod?

It's not exactly a galaxy or nebula that'll be around for viewing for thousands or millions of years.......

by **makc** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 12:12 pm

soupphysics wrote:Do we really need to see this commet almost every day on apod?

wadda ya mean

by **soupphysics** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:29 am

Do we really need to see this commet almost every day on apod?

by **makc** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:12 am

My guess is that's because after morning sky is getting too bright, and fades out enough again only around the sunset.

by **John Carswell** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 10:02 am

Would anyone have time and patience to explain to an uneducated amateur why the comet was visible at sunrise and sunset? I thought things had to be on one side of the sun or the other.

Starship Asterisk*

Comet McNaught viewing (APOD X Jan 2007)

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Enough McNaught! APOD (22 Jan 2007)

Nice view from sydney

Re: McNaught

McNaught