Sunday, January 21, 2007

Comet sighted

I missed Halley's Comet back in the 80s. I had my family telling me where to look [above the clothesline, a little to the left] and stuffed if I could see it. I was young and the binoculars were crap, but the rest of the family saw it.


So tonight I'm sitting on the back patio with a guitar and a beer, just playing and chilling out a bit. For a bit of background this area is pretty open and has an awesome night sky. I look over at the horizon and think what the hell is that??? Comet McNaught was really bright, with a huge tail that if you hold your hand up it stretches for the length of it. Amazing.


Ahh, redeemed. The first in the family to spot this one! Apparently it's the brightest comet in 40 years, but still.
I didn't actually take this photo - it's by a member of the North Casino bushwalk group (Casino is about a half hour from where I'm staying) and was posted on an Ice In Space forum.

4 comments:

dive said...

Rats!
We can't see the bugger from up here on top of the planet, so thanks for posting the lovely photo.

Vic said...

We're going to muck around tonight and see if we can get a few of our own shots. It was coming on too dark before I noticed it last night.

Sassy Sundry said...

That's beautiful.

Vic said...

Okay - we officially gave up on trying to take our own photos. Saw it again tonight, along with a rosy glow a little to the south-east of it. Bushfire, we suspect. Tis' the season for it.