Behold Comet McNaught! (or possibly Venus)

Was spectacular last night after sunset. I saw it only by chance and was gobsmacked. It was clearly visible with the naked eye and a very long tail on it.

I think the crescent moon also low in the western sky after sunset is making it more visible.

Llama,

Due to the haze, you would have needed binoculars to see it last night (assuming you got a gap in the clouds). I’ve managed to spot it (with binos) both Monday and Tuesday evenings, a little after 8pm (the sky is too bright before then due to the sun).

As well as the Ice In Space site I’ve linked to above, you might find the chart at this site useful.Siding Spring.

Sadly, it is fading fast, so try and see it as soon as you can.

Its suppose to be about 5 degrees away from the sun so about a hands width away from the sun as you look at it. Can be seen in day light apparently if you block the sun with your hand or view it so the sun is behind a mountain or whatever. Its also suppose to be about 18 times brighter the Venus which is in that image above.

not happy people, did anybody see anything other then a dot that may have been venus?

Halleys comet was a blue smudge, this one was a white dot. Can not wait for the next one.

I don’t know if anyone saw but there was heaps of shooting stars on friday night… didn’t quite make up for the massive shooting star storm that never eventuated a few months ago.. but was still quite good.

Canberra’s Comet looks about as bright and visible as Canberra’s Star Hayley Jensen!

Sorry, wrong link try this instead

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=183353&postcount=130

Some good pix can be found here http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=21978&d=1168899968

The guys in the northern hemisphere seem to have received a far better show than us – there are photos of it being visible during the day and looking quite the hollywood comet at night.

As it is almost Canberra’s own comet, you would thing Dr McNaught could have organised things better.

Nope. Not the comet. Definitely Venus. With the haze that was present, the comet was only visible with binoculars or a ‘scope.

Check out Ice In Space for details of when and where to see it.

Lame.

YAWN

i assumed it was venus too, it could well be, didnt know there was a comet till i read about it this morning, great sunset though

I saw that too but I thought it was Venus. My understanding was that the McNaught was much much closer to the Sun, hence all the warnings about viewing it with the naked eye.

So, like, it’s that white dot there?
Cool :s

hmmm Are you sure it is a comet? It looks like a couple of dead pixels on the camera… 😛