Let's "commemorate" Comet McNaught ...

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:01 pm

Arggghh!!! The sky was clear everywhere except the east!! I was *this* close to seeing it... *sigh*

Traveler · Post by **Traveler** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:25 pm

There were clouds moving in and out of the sun in the afternoon. Here's the best it got ard 4pm. The comet should be ard the 10 O'clock position of the sun. But even after scanning around with binos and scope for an hour still no success.....

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:45 pm

Ya, yesterday (Friday) seemed very promising in the afternoon. I had some optimism of at last spotting the comet.

At about 6.30pm to 6:45pm, I scanned the area at the 10 o'clock position from the sun, which was clear, but it was still too bright. I used a 10x42 bino.

Alas, by the time the sun got low enough not to wash out the comet, both our star and its iced orbiter dropped below the low-lying clouds. Even the sun's disc could not be seen again; what more a mere comet?

At 7.20pm, Venus was clearly visible, but not the comet. I scanned the horizon down to about 1 degree, but in the end, again this Comet was not seen. I gave up at around 7.40pm.

This reminds me of the great disappointment with the Leonids back in around 1998-1999, when a group of us went to Muar to view it and saw.... zero Leonids.

Oh well, at least I managed to see Halley in 1986, Hale-Bopp in 1997, and Ikeya-Zhang in 2002, plus the total eclipse last year. (And I must mention to all and sundry that the Milky Way and all the star clouds and clusters in the sky can be seen year after year after year. These are about as glorious as the special events.)

Astronomy is like that: anything that depends on the weather is bound to disappoint now and then. Can anything be less dependable than the weather? Is anything less random and unthinking than the movement of clouds? I've read of global 12-month expeditions to the middle of nowehere in the 18th or 19th century to view the transit of Venus, only to be obscured by clouds!

Stamp collecting would be different..... anyone loves stamps?

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:48 pm

starfinder wrote:Is anything less random and unthinking than the movement of clouds? Stamp collecting would be different..... anyone loves stamps?

I view the movement of stock prices as equally random!

I still have my old stamp collection and that which was passed down to me by my father. Other than that, I have stopped accumulating stamps except for the occasional ones from overseas in the office and ad hoc stamp sets from Singpost.

Last year I did order the constellation series from USPS.

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:41 pm

Yes, I still have my stamp albums, coin albums and banknote albums, all of which I did not touch for the last 2 decades... maybe its time to flip thought the pages again.

If only someone comes up with a cloud zapper or cloud filter...

jiahao1986 · Post by **jiahao1986** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:40 pm

Look at these newest photo of McNaught, the tail is really outrageous...

C/2006 P1 on Jan 20, 10:26 UT. Photo: R. H. McNaught, Siding Spring Observatory. Canon 5D, 50mm, f/2.8, 90 sec exp., ISO 200

C/2006 P1 on Jan 20, 10:46 UT. Photo: R. H. McNaught, Siding Spring Observatory. Canon 5D, 50mm, f/2.0, 50 sec exp., ISO 640

C/2006 P1 on Jan 20, 10:38 UT. Photo: R. H. McNaught, Siding Spring Observatory. Canon 5D, 135mm, f/2.0, 120 sec exp., ISO 200

Tachyon · Post by **Tachyon** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:31 pm

Looking at all these great pics made me even more depressed!

deepakrn · Post by **deepakrn** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:34 pm

I am SO depressed right now.

siahheng · Post by **siahheng** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:51 pm

Now on reservist and able to get back early, but still no luck with the comet. Lets hope next week is better. Gave my stamp collection to my nephew. Maybe its time to start collecting again... SIGH

Post by **Airconvent** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:52 pm

so sad....the more such great images I see, the more sad I am we missed the next best thing in astronomy in 40 years! Imagine the last great comet came when I was born, so not sure when the next one will come....
i think the only guy who saw it is the one who flew to australia to image it....sigh...