Comet McNaught

I hope everyone at least tried to see Comet McNaught during early January, it really doesn't get much easier to see a comet than it did for McNaught. Naked eye comets are fairly regular, every few years maybe, but McNaught was especially spectacular. Unfortunately for us southern California types, the comet was low on the horizon. I only saw it one night from my location, in retrospect I wish I had stopped near the ocean one night to see it well. My sad picture at top above barely admits the presence of a comet, but it's there near the center on the horizon. The image below mine shows a beautiful sunset image of the comet taken by Jens Hackmann in Bad Mergentheim, Germany on January 7.

I have now seen three naked eye comets in my life. Hyakutake in the spring of 1996, Hale-Bopp in April 1997, and now McNaught. I plan to be around when Halley's Comet makes another pass through the inner solar system, in mid 2061. I will be 86 years old, let's hope the eyes hold out.