Hi Joe: --- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:
Does anyone know if it's visible from Tucson, or will be, without the sun being up? (morning)
The comet is now quite a bit east of the sun- meaning it's not visible in the morning at all, regardless of one's latitude. Tucson is not sufficiently far south for evening viewing, either.
We are all so worried about someone getting his eyes damaged by direct sunlight through binoculars that we won't look while the sun is up.
This has been addressed many, many times. You simply stand in the shadow of a foreground object so that the sun itself isn't visible at all, but the area next to it is. See my post and Patrick's on this. There is no danger if you stand in a shadow. Besides, the comet is quite a bit east of the sun now- around fifteen degrees, by my estimate, and you need not be looking dangerously close to the sun anyway.
Is it harder to see the farther south you are, as I thought?
No, it's easier- after sunset. Latitude affects the apparent angle of the comet's orbit with respect to your local horizon.
Is it now too close to the sun for anyone to see it?
No, it's getting in a more favorable position for southern hemisphere observers, every passing day- unfortunately it's now past perihelion so it's dimming as well. The best is over for everyone in all probability. Definitely for us, at northern temperate latitudes. See the diagram for latitude 30-degrees south at: http://skytonight.com/observing/home/5133461.html
Will it be visible from North America once it starts back toward the deeps? Thanks, Joe
Probably not, from the orbital tracks I've seen. Hope this helps, Joe. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for earth-friendly autos? Browse Top Cars by "Green Rating" at Yahoo! Autos' Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/