+Iowa Tom Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 Hey are you guys down there seeing Comet McNaught right now? I can hardly believe my eyes when I see the pictures coming in from the Southern Hemisphere. I only caught one glimpse of it from here in the central US before it headed south. I have made many geocaches that have a theme that is related to something about nature. I would think that making one about this unreal comet would be good. Quote Link to comment
+bear&fox Posted January 20, 2007 Share Posted January 20, 2007 Trust me on this: the pictures do it no justice! McNaught is awesome. Sadly it will only be visible until around Tuesday (23 January). Quote Link to comment
+vespax Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 I tried looking for it last night after reading this thread. I looked in the south-west skies after searching the internet a little for info on where it is. I couldn't see anything. What tips are there to see it? Should I go up the mountain to see it or can I be in the suburbs and still see it? Where is the best spot in the Cape to see this? We would like to have a good look at it. Thanks Quote Link to comment
+Discombob Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 No, you wount be able to see it from where you are. Need to go to sea point side, as its closish to the horizon. Only visible about sunset. Even more amazing than the comet last night was the moon. It had a huge star, shining right in the cresent. Never seen anything like it in all my life! Quote Link to comment
+Noddy Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 (edited) Absolutely amazing. Saw the comet, Cresent moon with pinacle star and a satalite all on the same evening from the Strand. Hopefully the pictures come out!!!! Edited January 21, 2007 by Noddy Quote Link to comment
+Iowa Tom Posted January 21, 2007 Author Share Posted January 21, 2007 (edited) Absolutely amazing. Saw the comet, Cresent moon with pinacle star and a satalite all on the same evening from the Strand. Hopefully the pictures come out!!!! The image below and the quotation here is from SpaceWeather.com. "Even experienced astronomers have never seen anything like it--a sweeping fan of comet dust visible to the unaided eye despite city lights and twilight. Steve Crane sends this Jan. 19th picture from Cape Town, South Africa." I made this graphic to show what was up in the west as seen from the Cape after sunset on Jan 21st. The upward slanting lines are about a fist-width held at arm's length apart. If you want to try to determine what satellite you saw go to Heavens-Above. It looks like you will have a high pass of the Space Station on Jan 30. It may even cross in front of the moon! I've seen that happen. It’s a brilliant object to watch. It'll be about as bright as Venus, the star-like object you saw. Iowa Tom NE Iowa USA Edited January 21, 2007 by Iowa Tom Quote Link to comment
+The Huskies Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 Saw it very clear at about 21h30 last night from Somerset west. What an sight. Quote Link to comment
+cownchicken Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 Saw it this evening - quite a sight, sure beats Halley's which we had to squint through binocs to even catch a glimpse. Quote Link to comment
+Stormers Posted January 22, 2007 Share Posted January 22, 2007 Tried on Friday but was to late. Move on to a hill outside Stellenbosch Saturday evening at 20h00 and watched the sun set, the comet and then the cherry on top the star on the moon, what a night! The only thing that could improve this experience would have blackout for about 10 min. Quote Link to comment
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