Left of the sun, in the morning, means north of the sun- correct? Too much glare to see it here this afternoon, but I may try at sunset. I'm going to try and position myself so the sun will be behind a mountain, while the horizon to the north of it will be a few degrees lower. If no success tonight I may try a trip up the canyon Sunday morning. --- Rob Ratkowski Photography <ratkwski@hawaii.rr.com> wrote:

Well Double WOW here. I just spotted the comet about a fist's width left of the sun. A small fantail can be seen but the coma is definitely bright and distinct. I used the edge of my roofline to block the glare of the sun, the contrast is enough to make out a comet shape and I'll try to get a shot though I'm about 3 hrs from heading up to the top of Haleakala where imaging is much better.

aloha Rob

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Chuck when I located McNaught, it was just after NOON and the comet was on the left side of the sun to me and rotates clockwise towards sunset, so I guess for you it would be North of the sun now (12:56PM HST) We're now leaving about 2:30 for the summit, current humidity is 14% at the summit, dropping to probably 5% or less tonight Good luck Rob

Can't see a thing with my 8x40mm, I'll try again with a bigger caliber...stay tuned. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:

I just (2255 UT) spotted comet McNaught from my front yard in Stansbury Park using 11x80 binoculars.

Bright coma and very pretty (and impressive) stubby tail.

About 5° to upper left of the Sun.

Going out now with 7x35s to try my luck.

My first daylight comet!

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I abandoned my yard and made a dash for the local high-school parking lot. With the sun about to set and just behind the press-box over the football field, I found it in the 15x70mm bino, and followed it down to the horizon. Echo the stellar appearance, with just a hint of tail-flare. Once located, the brightness astounded me. This is without a doubt, intrinsically the brightest comet I have ever seen. If it were not on the other side of the sun and seen in a dark sky, it would cast shadows! I took some telephoto shots but due to the sky brightness, it may not appear as more than a white dot. I bracketed both f-stop and exposure time so maybe something will show up (shooting film). Why do all the really bright comets only appear when it's COLD!!??? --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:

Found it w/7x35s and am now using my C-8. Stellar appearance. Tail not as easily seen in C-8 as in binos.

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I think Guy had a stroke. Somebody better call his wife... --- diveboss@xmission.com wrote:

suxes@ I funond tehe sn87n.

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Channel 4 just called to say they got video of the comet that they plan to broadcast on tonight's 10:00 news. pw

Hi Folks, I posted my effort from tonight on my gallery at the Utah Astronomy site -- thanks again to Cyn for providing this wonderful resource and for shutting down the comments. Spam we don't need. My wife and I went to the parking lot at Red Butte Gardens, and had a lovely view across the still, calm air of the valley. Still, the comet did not show up until after the sun was well below the Oquirrhs, and then it was only visible for five or ten minutes before it disappeared into the muck. I only had one fairly good picture, though I have others that I may stack on it to see the comet itself better. The single OK pic is at http://www.utahastronomy.com/Joeb/1a -- Best wishes, Joe

On 13 Jan 2007, at 22:25, Chuck Hards wrote:

They shot Venus, not the comet!

The footage showed an object much higher than the comet immediately after sunset, with the sky much darker than it was at the time the comet set- the streetlights were on in the foreground!

By the time streetlights came-on, the comet had been long set.

I'm positive they got it wrong and shot Venus tonight.

Ssssshhhhhh... ;) At least they (and channel 5) mentioned the comet. Anything to get folks thinking about "what's up". pw

Patrick's advice should be taken seriously- When observing an object very close to the sun, ALWAYS place the sun itself behind an obstruction, such as a building. Then accidentally sweeping the dangerously bright solar disk is not possible. It also makes the object itself a tad easier to spot by removing much of the glare. --- diveboss@xmission.com wrote:

Sorry about that. My eye's are just now returning to normal. What that says is: "Success! I found the sun!"

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If it fades slowly it will only get easier for a time, to spot in daylight, as it gets further from the sun. --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:

'Course, as bright as it is, we've still got a number of chances of seeing it during the day (see the data I posted yesterday).

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On 14 Jan 2007, at 13:32, Rob Ratkowski Photography wrote:

just posted some comet images

http://www.utahastronomy.com/rob/eSunsetMcNaught

http://www.utahastronomy.com/rob/eMcN_TightDetail

Very nice. Could you add date, time and time zone to each of the captions? I was able to see it again today right at transit (~1305) in 11x80. No luck with 7x35 or naked eye (several reports on other lists about naked eye sightings but they were further south <one guy even said he got sunburned while observing>) Quite a bit of thin clouds made for intermittent viewing. Since the comet was east of the Sun I had to put a garbage can upright on the roof of my carport in order to create a clean, vertical sun-block. Comet was fainter than yesterday and a bit further from the Sun. Less tail visible but still a fun experience. While it's not Ikeya- Seki it'll do. :) pw

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/

Time and date added as requested. We have some overcast now so I'll probably not attempt a look. I had planned on going up again today just to do some projects and shoot the Zodiacal Light and Milky Way as I saw them last night BIG and BRIGHT. It was a good day yesterday ............................ Aloha Rob

Joe I 1st saw the comet at noon from the house and then again after 3PM from the summit till sunset. I guess we had a little extra time from being at 10K ft. We actually even saw an atmospheric refraction of the comet but my photo was so softened by the vog, that it's only a 'snapshot' . This comet would have been a real killer if we and it were positioned right and I'm still looking for that comet that will 'streak' thru the night sky. Aloha Rob