comet McNaught?

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Era
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comet McNaught?

Post by Era » Wed Jun 30, 2010 12:27 pm

we saw very clear and close at June 22 2010 just after sunset +-21 hrs during 4 minutes
we think ..comet McNaught ..very bright..moving steadily
over our house in Marathea between Gytheio and Areopoli /Lakonias/Southern-PELOPONNESE/GREECE
Am I right??

Eva Auerhaan
Holland/Greece

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Chris Peterson
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Re: comet McNaught?

Post by Chris Peterson » Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:13 pm

Era wrote:we saw very clear and close at June 22 2010 just after sunset +-21 hrs during 4 minutes
we think ..comet McNaught ..very bright..moving steadily
over our house in Marathea between Gytheio and Areopoli /Lakonias/Southern-PELOPONNESE/GREECE
Am I right??
I'm afraid it was something else. This comet is very close to the Sun, and hard to see at all. On June 22 it was probably only visible in the predawn sky. Just after sunset it was only a few degrees above the northwest horizon, lost in the twilight. Comets appear stationary. To see them move against the background requires hours or days of observation (less if you use a telescope). This comet is currently moving at about 2° per day.
Chris

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Penelope

Re: comet McNaught?

Post by Penelope » Sun Aug 01, 2010 10:43 am

We asw what sounds like the same thing whizzing across the night sky over Nafplio in Peloponnese. It had a small, very bright light at the head with a wide and long 'plume' of grey smoke/dust extended behind it. It was travelling from east to west. Can anyone identify what this was, it was a very moving experience.

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Chris Peterson
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Re: comet McNaught?

Post by Chris Peterson » Sun Aug 01, 2010 1:49 pm

Penelope wrote:We asw what sounds like the same thing whizzing across the night sky over Nafplio in Peloponnese. It had a small, very bright light at the head with a wide and long 'plume' of grey smoke/dust extended behind it. It was travelling from east to west. Can anyone identify what this was, it was a very moving experience.
If just after sunset as indicated in the original post, it would most likely be an airplane. Contrails can take on a variety of appearances around dusk. Later at night, your description could be of a satellite fuel dump, or dump of some other material for scientific research purposes. Anything you can see moving (I don't know how fast you mean by "whizzing") has to be in the atmosphere or just above it, and other than meteors is probably something man-made.
Chris

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