Kurt, I have some qualifiers on this assessment. The photographs I saw of this comet, taken from the southern hemisphere, certainly depict a fantastic, truly great comet- but then I've seen photos (and paintings, tapestries, etc.) of other spectacular comets that I have not seen with my own eyes. The views of McNaught I caught in strong twilight and daylight were cool from the standpoint of sheer visibility- but lacked any visual impact. When I saw McNaught, it was definitely not "great". Unusual, noteworthy, yes- but not Great. You had to be "down under" for that unaided-eye view. My personal "bar" must be set by actual eyeball views, not based on published images- otherwise it becomes just a game of comparing photographs and arguing subjective points; a history lesson. My standard continues to be *comet* *West* (which shared many tail structural characteristics with McNaught), with Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake in a close tie for second place (for different reasons). There is just something amazing about a huge, bright comet seen in a really dark sky. On 5/15/07, Kurt Fisher <fisherka@csolutions.net> wrote:

The Great Comet of 2007 [McNaught] has raised the asthetic comet bar. - Kurt