C/2006 P1 (McNaught) On A Very Windy Evening, 2007/1/8

[Dave Mitsky]

I was finally victorious over the clouds yesterday evening and was able to observe C/2006 P1 (McNaught) for the first time. Some friends and I met at a nearby hilltop with a great view of the western horizon a bit before 5:00 p.m. EST. Venus was easily visible to the naked-eye at that time. Unfortunately, the wind was blowing steadily at speeds up to 30 mph, which made for a rather bitter impromptu observing session.

My good friend and observing companion Tony Donnangelo and I scanned the area to the lower right of Venus with binoculars. Tony picked up the comet at 5:18 p.m. (22:18 UT) with his new 10x50 Celestron Ultimas. Shortly thereafter I saw it through my 8x42 Celestron Nobles. We then viewed it through Tony's 15x70 Celestron Skymasters, which were mounted on my Vista binocular guider and Bogen tripod, followed by my 80mm f/5 Orion ShortTube 80 achromat at 15x (26mm Tele Vue Ploessl) and later 50x (8mm Tele Vue Radian).

I was able to see Comet McNaught P1 naked-eye at approximately 5:30 p.m. I wasn't able to pick up Altair until sometime thereafter.

Overall, the 15x70s provided the best view. The very rare shadow feature that seemingly divides the tail was visible. C/2006 P1 (McNaught) took on a ruddy hue as it sank into the sunset, which was yet another fascinating aspect of observing this very bright comet.

I was able to follow the comet through my ST80 until it was only a degree or two above the western horizon. Sometime after 5:50 p.m. it was no longer visible.

It was difficult to estimate Comet McNaught P1's brightness but I would put it somewhere between -2 and -3 magnitude. The coma was quite brilliant.

A finder chart is posted at http://spaceweather.com/images2007/0...ymap_north.gif

Dave Mitsky

[Arneb]

I saw the comet for the first time today . I was waiting for a colleague to finish an ultrasound and decided to have a quick look at the Western sky from the ICU - no luck, ca. 16:55 CET (15:55 UT).

After seeing the ultrasound result at about 17:10 , I could make out the glistening yellow comet some 5° above the horizon even through the strongly reflecting window of a a well-lit staircase.

I left the hospital, raced over to my dormitory room, grabbed my 10X50 and continued to observe the comet from the front porch of the hospital. Very clear, a beautiful naked-eye object turning from yellow to deep red while being swallowed by horizon clouds. No sign of the division Dave described, but then it was only a 10x50, and handheld.

I managed to show the comet to some colleagues and passers-by, to great aahs, oohs, and supers.I got back to my hospital office at about 17:26, having lost the comet approx. 1 min. earlier in the horizon clouds.

An extremely brilliant and bright comet; if only it were a bit higher above!! I'll try again tomorrow.

[Kaptain K]

No luck here (well, bad luck). High thin clouds, especially on the western horizon. Will try again tonight.

[jt-3d]

Yeah me too. Boo. I had clouds on the horizon in the morning and then in the evening too. Possibly I went out too late. I'll give it another shot tonight.

[Dave Mitsky]

Tony Donnangelo, Maura Smith, and I observed Comet McNaught P1 again on Wednesday evening from the same hilltop as on Monday. It was very cold and windy once more, although not quite as windy as on Monday evening.

This time I spotted the comet first using a 8x42 Celestron Noble binocular and was able to see it naked-eye almost immediately thereafter. The time of the naked-eye sighting was 5:20 p.m. EST (22:20 UT), ten minutes earlier than on Monday evening. Unfortunately, there were more low clouds yesterday evening and the amount of time we actually saw the comet was far less. By 5:44 p.m. EST it had sank into an horizon hugging cloud bank and that was all she wrote.

This time Tony brought his 102mm f/8 Takahashi FS-102 apochromatic refractor and I my new 80mm f/7.5 Vixen 80EDSf refractor but despite the expensive glass the views weren't correspondingly better than on Monday due to the clouds and the comet's lower altitude.

I also took a few prime shots of the comet through the Vixen with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel DSLR but it was in and out of the clouds during that period. I'll post the pictures when I find the time to process them.

Dave Mitsky

[Kaptain K]

Arrgh! This time it was low thick clouds on the western horizon. Since then, it has completely clouded over. The forcast for the rest of the week is not promising.

[jt-3d]

Yeah, I was hoping to catch it through a gap in the clouds but the clouds got thicker and the gaps disappeared as the sun set. I guess I'll try to catch it on the outbound side.

[redshifter]

I saw it through my 12X63 binocs yesterday during/immediately after sunset. It was breathtaking! I could not see it naked eye however. I hope we get another comet with a magnitude of this one, but visible higher in the sky and at night.