Comet McNaught: The Brightest Comet in Decades.


Photo: Jens Hackmann

Boing Boing tuned us into Comet McNaught, the brightest comet in decades:

The brightest comet in decades is unexpectedly now visible. The most optimistic predictions have Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) shortly becoming one of the brightest comets of the past century. For the next few days, its short tail and bright coma can be spotted with the unaided eye close to the Sun and near the horizon in both evening and morning skies. This dramatic picture of the comet shining through cloudy skies was taken near sunset on January 7 from Bad Mergentheim, Germany.

Links: Astronomy Picture of the Day (description above) | Comet McNaught Photogallery - via Boing Boing


Regrettably, the comet has moved quickly in the days since this old report and is now only easily visible in the Southern hemisphere. I tried to see it (from Canada) late last week when the clouds momentarily cleared but by then it was much too close to the sun and some mountains were in the way.
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