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Comet

Entry 457, on 2007-01-16 at 15:03:12 (Rating 1, Activities)

You might be aware that there is an unusually bright comet visible in the sky at the moment. It is called Comet McNaught, and it is the brightest comet for many years. Here in New Zealand we have been suffering our worst summer for many years - I can't remember the last time we had a full day of sunshine. The great frustration of being an amateur astronomer in a country with an unpredictable climate like New Zealand's is that the chance of getting a clear sky to view interesting and unusual events is quite low.

We decided we should head inland to find some clear sky to see the comet last night. Comets tend to get brighter when they are near the Sun, because that's when they melt and the coma and tail become most prominent. This means that the comet is only visible briefly after sunset of before sunrise, which just adds to the difficulty of finding some clear sky.

Sunset was about 9.30 last night and we left town around 7 because we wanted to have plenty of time to look for a clear spot. After driving for an hour the sky was looking even worse as we arrived in a town called Middlemarch, miles from anywhere in Central Otago. I made an Internet connection from my laptop through my cell phone and downloaded a recent satellite photo which showed clear sky ahead so we continued towards the next town, Ranfurly, which was about another hour away.

We got to Ranfurly and found what looked like the clearest sky available. As the Sun set we anxiously scanned the sky amongst the cloud for a sign of the comet and eventually located it in a hazy area near the horizon. Despite the fact that it was partly obscured by cloud and the sky was still fairly bright, it was quite prominent but not as spectacular as others with clear skies have been reporting. It was good just to see it at all though, because as it disappeared near the horizon our view was almost completely lost as cloud arrived.

We arrived back in Dunedin around 12.30 and the sky was almost completely clear. It had been cloudy on the western horizon at sunset though so our 4-5 hours of driving was worthwhile. The weather looks a lot better today so hopefully I will be able to get a better view (and some photos) tonight - without the journey into Central Otago!

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