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--Apple-Mail-2--937020094 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; format=flowed January 10, 2007: Once again I had the good fortune of having yet =20 another good view of Comet McNaught. Although I spent most of the =20 observing time (5:11 to 5:32 p.m. ) enjoying the comet through my =20 10X50 binoculars, I managed a couple quick digital photos from which =20 I'll choose and post one later on. Between 4:00 and 4:45 I had been in New Minas doing an errand; at =20 that time the area was receiving a heavy snow flurry from heavy dark =20 clouds all around especially to the south. Then abruptly the flurries =20= abated and the north side of the Valley and especially westward, =20 cloud began to lift away, allowing the setting Sun to appear. The =20 cloud's dividing line literally was the solar disk. East and south of =20= it was solid cloud, west of it was a narrow strip of open, clear sky, =20= running around to the North Mountain. Some cloud remained overhead. Noting the time and the nice clear strip in the west, my next move =20 was clear; I headed for a location where I knew I could use the =20 opening for a possible view of the comet (Middle Dyke Road, running =20 north from New Minas, crossing the Valley dykelands just beyond the =20 Gesner Momument and Chipman Corner). By 5 p.m. I had turned off into =20= a farm road looking westward, overlooking flat dykeland. I had a =20 great view of the open strip of sky and it looked like it was =20 perfectly positioned. Relative to the Sun's setting position, =20 McNaught had to pass through the opening (if more cloud didn't get =20 there first). Appear it did! Comet McNaught popped out from under the upper cloud =20= layer at 5:11. =46rom then, until about 5:25, the path for the next =20 143 million kilometres to the westward, between me and C/2006 P1, was =20= unobstructed . What luck! What a sight! My immediate impression =20 was that its brightness had increased over last evening's view, =20 especially the intensity of the comet head. Its brightness was a =20 little reminiscent of seeing Mercury under similar circumstances, =20 except the comet seemed brighter, but that may be my mind playing =20 subjective tricks (seeing such a bright comet in the evening twilight =20= is much more rare than seeing Mercury). It is bright, for sure. =20 Imagine the sight if this were in a dark sky! . At 5:17 I took my eyes away from the binoculars and noted that the =20 comet and some of its tail was easily visible naked-eye. Reluctant to =20= take my eyes away from the binoculars, I would break away to =20 hastily take a few shots with the camera I had set up on the tripod. =20 All too quickly, about 5:25, the comet began to drop into the wispy =20 fringe of lower cloud. At 5:32 McNaught's light become =20 indistinguishable from the billows of cloud that moved up around it. P.S. This morning there was a reasonable clear opening above the =20 eastern horizon, every bit as opportunistic as this evening. =46rom a =20= location near Windsor, I began a careful search from about 7:20 a.m. =20 until sunrise, without success. Catching the comet in the morning is =20 a greater challenge. Sherman Sherman Williams sherm@glinx.com website: http://www.glinx.com/~sherm On 10-Jan-07, at 8:49 PM, Roy Bishop wrote: The clouds parted low in the WSW sky over Avonport late this =20 afternoon (January 10) revealing Comet McNaught in the evening =20 twilight for a third time (previously on January 7 and 9). I watched the comet from when it dropped into view at 17:23 until =20 17:33 when it vanished behind a cloud layer near the horizon. It was =20 easily a naked-eye object, the head of the comet being even brighter =20 than yesterday as it approaches perihelion less than two days from =20 now, and less than half of Mercury=92s distance from the Sun. The coma =20= has changed in appearance from 24 hours ago, becoming more pointed =20 with a blazing =93nucleus=94 at its tip; not surprising as it is being =20= blasted by solar radiation more than 30 times more intense than at =20 Earth=92s location. Against the twilight sky the tail is still a narrow fan with well-=20 defined edges. I looked for structure within the tail (15 x 45 IS =20 binoculars), but it appeared quite uniform in brightness, other than =20 fading gradually to blend into the twilight about 0.5-degree from the =20= head. Twice while I was watching flocks of ducks in silhouette flew past =20 the comet. ( I also saw several ducks fly through my binocular field in =20 silhouette against the sky. It was a neat sight with a comet in the =20 background. ) After Earth=92s rotation raised the horizon clouds to cover the comet, =20= I could see its head for another minute, a bright spot penetrating =20 the dark cloud. A magnitude estimate is difficult given the =20 atmospheric extinction at that low altitude, the lack of any nearby =20 reference objects of known magnitude, and the bright twilight, but it =20= must have been at least -1 if not -2. There is an orbit animation for Comet McNaught at: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?name=3Dc/2006+P1 The animation shows that during the past several days the comet has =20 been rushing almost straight at Earth as it vaults over the north =20 pole of the Sun. Over the next few days the comet will plunge =20 southward as it passes perihelion and starts its long journey back =20 out away from the Sun. That journey will take essentially forever, =20 because with an orbital eccentricity of 1.000011 and passing well =20 clear of any planets as it recedes, the Great Comet of 2007 will be =20 on its way to interstellar space, never to return. Roy= --Apple-Mail-2--937020094 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252 <HTML><BODY style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; = -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">January 10, = 2007: Once again I had the good fortune of having yet another good view = of Comet McNaught. Although I spent most of the observing time (5:11 to = 5:32 p.m. )=A0enjoying the comet through my 10X50 binoculars, I managed = a couple quick digital photos from which I'll choose and post one later = on.=A0 =A0</DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">Between 4:00 and 4:45 I had been in New Minas doing = an errand; at that time the area was receiving a heavy snow flurry from = heavy dark clouds all around especially to the south. Then abruptly the = flurries abated and the north side of the Valley and especially = westward, cloud began to lift away, allowing the setting Sun to appear. = The cloud's dividing line literally was the solar disk. East and south = of it was solid cloud, west of it was a narrow strip of o