1 February 2007

New comet pictures - UPDATED

| johnboy
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[First filed: January 23, 2007 @ 23:25
Next filed: January 28, 2007 @ 23:15]

Whoops, my junk filter was being overzealous so I missed a pile, apologies to those who sent them in. So as a farewell the Comet McNaught here are those pictures.

This one is by James:

Burninator had an intriguing close-up:

and Red had a, well, a red one:

(older pictures follow)

Jr has two more!

And the other from Jr:

Some more pictures taken 23-JAN-07 from Higgins by John Kovacs from Candlelight Pictures.

[Last filed: January 22, 2007 @ 13:14]

Marty has sent in a picture of the comet from last night, much more impressive than last week!

Keep sending them in to johnboy@the-riotact.com (max 550 pixels to a side please)

And here’s Deano’s excellent efforts:

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How long is the comet in the skies, visible for?

Nice pics! Canberra looks good with a halo. Or maybe I’ve just been away too long.

Sensational photo James

A compendium of comets. Great pics all round. James gets my prize.

Woody Mann-Caruso1:25 pm 01 Feb 07

Is that red one sideways, Miss Jane?

WM-C:

Wallaroo Road, Hall – f/3.5, 30.0s, 0ev, ISO800, 10mm

Mt. Ainslie, Canberra – f/5.6, 30.0s, 0ev, ISO400, 10mm

I’ll be using my remote to try some long exposure bulb photography next time I do night shots. I was next to a gent on Mt. Ainslie that was taking 360.0s exposures at f/8.0 onto Fuji Provia (Slides) at ISO100 – he claims he generally has good results from that too.

Woody Mann-Caruso8:56 am 29 Jan 07

Can I ask how long those exposures were jr? After some fiddling with my camera, I’ve unlocked a previously hidden “long shutter” mode that’ll let me go to a whopping (not) 15 seconds.

Suzie,

If you were up there with your dog I might have spoken to you tonight…

You are right about the light coming off the city – but it makes a far more interesting shot.

i can see it out there from the back porch right now. i earlier spent an hour waiting on mount ainslie for the sun to go down… soooo cold! the only advantage of going up ainslie was that the photographers told us what we were looking for. if you’re on any hill the light from canberra makes it harder to see

JB – is it possible to get a preview for posts?

Soem info on McNaught from Astronomical Society of South Australia

* This is not an atmospheric phenomenon. It is a solar system body situated 135 to 150 million kms from the Earth this week and receding. The moon is 300,000kms away for comparison.

* The head is about 10-20 kms across (bigger than Mt Everest)

* The inner coma surrounding the head is over 4 times larger than Earth with the full coma size likely to be half as large as the Sun.

* The tail stretches 0.2 AU, or 30 million kms from the head out to space (assuming 15 degrees).

* Enormous tons of water vapour and dust are being emitted from the comet every second. The exact figure is not known.

* Comets developed in the outer solar system, are therefore icy, gassy, dusty objects.

* The comet will not collide with Earth. It was closest to Earth on Jan 15 at 122 million kms distant.

* The comet will not return.

Everest, eh? That’s one big-ass icecube.

Cheers to deano for the directions – saw Mcnaught last night!!:)

Typsy McStaggers9:57 am 24 Jan 07

Yeah – clouds here too last night. But the night I saw it I didn’t have to go anywhere – it was clearly visible from the front yard, and it is unmissable – just like the photos.

I trekked out to Stromlo, only to have my view obscured by pesky clouds. But I am prepared to believe this thing exists.

Look South, then s-l-o-w-l-y turn East (about 30degrees) – if you miss it, KandyA’s Triffids have made you blind too 😉 Looks like a car with headlights on, angled akwardly on a cliff-edge…

Wow! I was impressed (but then, that is pretty easy). Much better than that Halley fiasco. Hey, nice pics from ya’ll!

THERE GOES THAT ROTTEN McNAUGHT COMET!
IT MAKES ME SICK!
I WANT TO VOMET!

I have been watching the comet for a few nights, does anyone know anything about these giant plants that have appeared in my garden fking up my vegies? please respond quickly, my vision is inexplicably fading and I cant make out the screen too much longer….

oh sorry have we already had the triffid jokes?

Vic Bitterman11:15 pm 22 Jan 07

Absolutely brilliant photos!!!!

The ones we took tonight were not as good, but my wife claims she’ll do all sorts of ‘stuff’ to the camera tomorrow to take better pics (Canon 350D) 🙂

She’s the one who’s the alleged photographer in this household!

Actually Siding Spring is not in Canberra but in Coonabarabran. Robert McNaught is based at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Australian National University.

discovered by a Scottish astronomer

Scottish born but based at Siding Springs Observatory here in Canberra. He has twelve other comets named after him and an asteroid as well.

From todays Times on Line:

Giant comet lights up skies
Catherine Boyle in Australia

A comet discovered by a Scottish astronomer has transformed southern hemisphere skies this week.

Thousands of people have gathered in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina and South Africa to watch Comet McNaught, the brightest comet seen from Earth in more than 40 years. It is one of very few comets that can be seen by the naked eye in daylight and is around 140 million kilometres (87 million miles) from the Earth.

The comet consists of a head bigger than Mount Everest and a tail that stretches 30 million kilometres into space.

Yeah, but wear dark glasses!

You will be able to see it tonight (clouds willing). It is moving away from the Sun as so is getting fainter by the day. It should be visible for the next week before it becomes too faint to see with the naked eye.

so i should still be able to see the comet tonight?

Good O

Best time is between 9:00pm and 9:30pm. Look just south of where the Sun has just set.

Basically where the sun goes down. The best time is meant to be when the sun has just gone down – just as the twilight fades. Stand somewhere darkish, and look towards the horizon.

VYBerlinaV8_now with_added_grunt2:17 pm 22 Jan 07

Look into the sky, towards the comet.

Which way do we have to look again?

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