Comet West certainly was a beautiful one. I'm curious; wikipedia states that Comet West has an orbital period of ~558,000 years. So, why doesn't it have a periodic comet designation? i.e. XXX/P Clear skies, Dale.
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+dale.hooper=sdl.usu.edu@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy- bounces+dale.hooper=sdl.usu.edu@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Friday, January 19, 2007 2:19 PM To: Utah-Astro Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Comparing comets McNaught and West
The most recent photos from the southern hemisphere really made me sit up straight- McNaught bears a striking resemblence to comet West in 1976. Here is a (admittedly mediocre) photo for those who never saw West:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_West
Note the similar structure in the tails of the two comets. They also share an exceedingly bright nucleus and coma.
The wikipedia article also mentions the visibility of West in daylight- again like McNaught. I haven't seen an estimate yet of the apparent size of McNaught, but it looks like it could be approaching the size of West, which I made out at the time to be about 30-degrees when seen from a dark location.
Let's hope that next time it's the northern hemisphere's turn- and a summertime great comet wouldn't put the universe out of balance, either (as long as we're hoping...).
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