[meteorite-list] Comet McNaught Is Now A DAYLUGHT COMET!

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2007 20:31:18 -0600
Message-ID: <004501c73784$12f5fc30$1e21e146_at_ATARIENGINE>

http://spaceweather.com/

    "Comet McNaught is now visible in broad
daylight. 'It's fantastic,' reports Wayne Winch
of Bishop, California. 'I put the sun behind a
neighbor's house to block the glare and the
comet popped right into view. You can even
see the tail!'
    Just hours ago, Mark Vornhusen took this
picture of the comet between clouds over
Gais, Switzerland <photo>
    This weekend is a special time for Comet
McNaught because it is passing close to the sun.
Solar heat is causing the comet to vaporize
furiously and brighten to daylight visibility. At
magnitude -4 to -5, McNaught is the brightest
comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965.
    The secret to seeing McNaught: Get rid of the
sun. You can do this by standing in the shadow
of a tall building or billboard. Make a fist and hold it
at arm's length. The comet is about one fist-width
(5 degrees) east of the sun's position. Try it!
    Warning: Binoculars dramatically improve the
view of the comet, allowing you to see structure
within the tail . But please be super-careful not to
look at the sun. Direct sunlight through binoculars
can cause permanent eye damage."

    The comet is now as bright or brighter than
Venus, which can usually be seen in the daylight
if you know where to look. A good trick (often
recommended for spotting Venus in daylight) is
to take a small cardboard mailing tube one inch or
more in diameter or the central tube out of a roll
of paper towels and put it to one eye as if it were
a telescope (closing the other eye, naturally).

    I would love to give you a first hand description,
but I happen to be in the dead middle of a classic
midwestern ice storm. Every leaf, branch, twig,
and blade of grass is sheathed in a centimeter of
ice, and the sky has been a dark grey wooly mass
for two days of perpetual twilight. If the Sun went
supernova, I wouldn't have been able to see it...

    Somewhere the Sun is shining, somewhere the
comet's flying, but there is no joy in Mugville; the
Visible Universe has struck out.


Sterling K. Webb
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Received on Sat 13 Jan 2007 09:31:18 PM PST