Comet McNaught

Date: 07 January 2007 U.T.
Time: 14:05 U.T.
Telescope: 80mm f/5 refractor
Magnification: 41x
Seeing: Poor
NELM: Bright Twilight
Temperature: +20 F (-7 C)


The above sketch is mirror-reversed. West is toward the upper right. South is toward the upper left. The observation was made in the morning before sunrise. This sketch is more accurate than that accompanying my previous comet observation.

The comet was initally spotted in 8x42 binoculars just as it cleared the trees along my east-southeastern horizon. It was very easily visible to the unaided eye at that time.

After completing the sketch I lowered the magnification to 16x and kept an eye on the comet as the sky brightened. In time, the sky became too bright to make out the comet's tail. Even later, the comet's central condensation appeared to shrink due to the increase in sky brightness and/or improved seeing conditions.

I was able to maintain sight of the comet until the last time I shifted the scope (to keep the comet in view). At that point my observing eye was unable to pick the comet out of the bright telescopic field of view. This was two minutes before sunrise!

Comet McNaught should be visible in the early evening sky as well. As a matter of fact, it will probably now be easier to catch in the evening sky than in the morning sky. I would have tried yesterday evening; but my sky was cloudy and the ground was accumulating a small amount of snow.