mmm, I think that's just for you folks down under Gus. I'm not sure it's coming back for us up here above the equator.
Doh !! They are talking of it being up to -2 mag here after it leaves the sun but after 3 years of shocking drought ..we appear to be getting nothing but cloud lately.
mmm, I think that's just for you folks down under Gus. I'm not sure it's coming back for us up here above the equator.
We will not see the comet up here above the equator.
Dee, if you saw the object all that time, it cannot be meteor. It cannot be ISS and it is not the comet. If it were Venus and you blured the picture, you would get a curvy line, not a ball (I know I tried). So I guess it left us with UFO . I wonder, if you used binoculars to look at it, and if you did, did it look the same as it looks at the pictures. Does that thing looks the same at all pictures you took?
I also took picture of something strange few days ago.
Here it is: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/138/342660732_3836984a95_o.jpg
I went back to look at where ISS was yesterday around that time, but Heaven's Above was no help. It did sort-of look like a meteor, but not quite. Could have been an Iridium flare too...that's what they look like (big bright end and then a tail dimming off) If it was a plane catching a huge reflection from the Sun, it would have been more uniform. Maybe you caught a few things (Venus plus a plane)? I'm just curious about the top part of the 'tail', looks kinda-rainbow-y (like a sundog sometimes does)...so I wonder if there was an ice crystal structure in the clouds going on to cause some optical phenomenon (?)
Venus wouldn't move that fast in 1 second...a 1 second exposure just makes it look oval instead of a nice 'sphere' (though I don't know the current phase).
Interesting, no doubt!
Adrienne
According to Heavens Above, there weren't any iridium flares at that time for San Fran. ISS would have been traveling the other direction, I believe. When I saw it a few weeks ago it was going from southwest to northeast. I'd lean towards Venus with a lens flare causing the tail if I were a betting man.
Whatever it is, it's cool that you went out and took a crack at the comet!
I'll try again today
I think I can convince my daughter and grandson to come with me, or I'll go alone.
The ONLY thing I can possibly think of is that I might have had a lot of salt on my lens and possibly it was a flare from the salt crystals on the lens??? But I still don't know what the object was. I tried looking at star charts, but I'm not very good at that either.
Maybe I'll see the comet this time! Looks like I have 2 or 3 more days too to try. I'm just hoping the wind dies down and I'll try the telephoto zoom lens, though it's not very sharp.
Obviously I was too late to see the comet and it was gone by 6 p.m. when I first started taking pictures.
Here's what yesterday looked like at 5:05 p.m. PST
probably just out of the frame
I quickly did some playing in PS to try to show you where the comet is in this image...but I think it's just out of the frame at the top! I figured at least to invert the colors, play with curves, do an exclusion layer or something and we'd be able to see a small smidge of 'something' to the right upper area from the sun....but I think it's just out of the frame b/c nothing popped out at me.
Good luck trying tonight! I'm going to try here in Tucson, but it's a bit cloudy
Adrienne
tonight it will appear directly over the Sun...it'll probably be tough to see...diagram below. On the 13th we'll probably lose it, but it'll be more to the left of the Sun between the Sun and Venus.
I quickly did some playing in PS to try to show you where the comet is in this image...but I think it's just out of the frame at the top! I figured at least to invert the colors, play with curves, do an exclusion layer or something and we'd be able to see a small smidge of 'something' to the right upper area from the sun....but I think it's just out of the frame b/c nothing popped out at me.
Good luck trying tonight! I'm going to try here in Tucson, but it's a bit cloudy
Adrienne
tonight it will appear directly over the Sun...it'll probably be tough to see...diagram below. On the 13th we'll probably lose it, but it'll be more to the left of the Sun between the Sun and Venus.
My luck I won't see it.... So far it's clear and breezy, but we get those horizon clouds, haze, bands of haze often at the ocean.
Thank you for the diagram, that really helps a lot.
I caught the comet on my CF card
With a lot of help from my daughter's eagle eye (I never would have spotted it, altho it might have showed up when I got on the computer at 100%) I caught the comet! Finally! Not the greatest photos but this time I was using my tripod and my remote commander. I may have accidentally hit the front of the telephoto lens when the tripod was moved from the sidewalk to next to my car door. I had it set to manual focus, but it's so easy to mess up the focus as I'm learning the very hard way.
awesome Dee!
awesome Dee! It was so close to the setting Sun, I think you got the best you could. But can you just imagine how bright it is to show through the bright sunset sky! Pretty cool...with your own eyes (and your daughter's) you saw an object that's composed of left-overs from the formation of the solar system...very old stuff indeed!
awesome Dee! It was so close to the setting Sun, I think you got the best you could. But can you just imagine how bright it is to show through the bright sunset sky! Pretty cool...with your own eyes (and your daughter's) you saw an object that's composed of left-overs from the formation of the solar system...very old stuff indeed!
Adrienne
I think we have 2 more nights to see the comet? Your comments did give me pause... never thought about a comet like that. Unlike the thing I saw the night before, the comet was so faint I'm not even sure I saw it with my eyes. My daughter kept thinking she was seeing things, then finally decided it was a comet. I aimed and shot! !
I didn't even think about the brightness of the sunset as usually I look for comets and sky stuff when it's dark and there's a good contrast.
The comet did not show up where the sun set, however (as I read on space.com) but to the north of it.
I doubt very much I'll be able to see it tonight, but I'll give it a try.
I think we have 2 more nights to see the comet? Your comments did give me pause... never thought about a comet like that. Unlike the thing I saw the night before, the comet was so faint I'm not even sure I saw it with my eyes. My daughter kept thinking she was seeing things, then finally decided it was a comet. I aimed and shot! !
I didn't even think about the brightness of the sunset as usually I look for comets and sky stuff when it's dark and there's a good contrast.
The comet did not show up where the sun set, however (as I read on space.com) but to the north of it.
I doubt very much I'll be able to see it tonight, but I'll give it a try.
yeah - the astronomers try to figure out it's path, but there are so many variables (including, how much it's sublimating with the sun's heat, how the vapor trail affects it's path, mass/density, what's it really made of (how much ice vs. how much rock), etc. that the "predictions" can be off a little bit. My diagram was from a software package called Starry Night and is by no means completely accurate for comets and such...just a general idea. Same with info from space.com and such places...though Heaven's Above does give it's exact position at the current time...but predictions for anything 24 hours or more in advance are hard to be completely accurate about.
I'm hoping the clouds clear here and maybe I can get another look tonight.
We should though, be getting some very nice images from southern hemisphere observers in the next few weeks!
I should add though, that's it's become so bright (Sat Jan 13) that it can be seen during the day! Check out http://www.spaceweather.com as someone in Switzerland got a daytime image... "
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This weekend is a special time for Comet McNaught because it is passing close to the sun. Solar heat is causing the comet to vaporize furiously and brighten to daylight visibility. At magnitude -4 to -5, McNaught is the brightest comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The secret to seeing McNaught: Get rid of the sun. You can do this by standing in the shadow of a tall building or billboard. Make a fist and hold it at arm's length. The comet is about one fist-width (5 degrees) east of the sun's position. Try it![/FONT] "
Still partially cloudy here, but I do keep checking
Here's my shots taken 1/13/07.
The tail was almost lost to thr sunset glow.
NIce sequence! I saw them also on spaceweather.com
My airplane photo didn't make it (sniff sniff) --- but many other great images have. Can't wait to see what comes out of the southern hemisphere in the coming weeks!
NIce sequence! I saw them also on spaceweather.com
My airplane photo didn't make it (sniff sniff) --- but many other great images have. Can't wait to see what comes out of the southern hemisphere in the coming weeks!
Thanks for the link Gus. There's a piccie showing the trajectory for the next few nites which is useful for us down the bottom. I'll have a look this arvie (if the weather's ok).
Thanks for the link Gus. There's a piccie showing the trajectory for the next few nites which is useful for us down the bottom. I'll have a look this arvie (if the weather's ok).
Mate im off my head here with the cloud...about 10 days straight now & more today totally blocking anything out !
Comments
Dee, if you saw the object all that time, it cannot be meteor. It cannot be ISS and it is not the comet. If it were Venus and you blured the picture, you would get a curvy line, not a ball (I know I tried). So I guess it left us with UFO
I also took picture of something strange few days ago.
Here it is:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/138/342660732_3836984a95_o.jpg
Whatever it is, it's cool that you went out and took a crack at the comet!
Adrienne
I think I can convince my daughter and grandson to come with me, or I'll go alone.
The ONLY thing I can possibly think of is that I might have had a lot of salt on my lens and possibly it was a flare from the salt crystals on the lens??? But I still don't know what the object was. I tried looking at star charts, but I'm not very good at that either.
Maybe I'll see the comet this time! Looks like I have 2 or 3 more days too to try. I'm just hoping the wind dies down and I'll try the telephoto zoom lens, though it's not very sharp.
Obviously I was too late to see the comet and it was gone by 6 p.m. when I first started taking pictures.
Here's what yesterday looked like at 5:05 p.m. PST
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
I quickly did some playing in PS to try to show you where the comet is in this image...but I think it's just out of the frame at the top! I figured at least to invert the colors, play with curves, do an exclusion layer or something and we'd be able to see a small smidge of 'something' to the right upper area from the sun....but I think it's just out of the frame b/c nothing popped out at me.
Good luck trying tonight! I'm going to try here in Tucson, but it's a bit cloudy
Adrienne
tonight it will appear directly over the Sun...it'll probably be tough to see...diagram below. On the 13th we'll probably lose it, but it'll be more to the left of the Sun between the Sun and Venus.
My luck I won't see it.... So far it's clear and breezy, but we get those horizon clouds, haze, bands of haze often at the ocean.
Thank you for the diagram, that really helps a lot.
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
With a lot of help from my daughter's eagle eye (I never would have spotted it, altho it might have showed up when I got on the computer at 100%) I caught the comet! Finally! Not the greatest photos but this time I was using my tripod and my remote commander. I may have accidentally hit the front of the telephoto lens when the tripod was moved from the sidewalk to next to my car door. I had it set to manual focus, but it's so easy to mess up the focus as I'm learning the very hard way.
Here's the first sighting:
And here's another, followed by my last capture!
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
awesome Dee! It was so close to the setting Sun, I think you got the best you could. But can you just imagine how bright it is to show through the bright sunset sky! Pretty cool...with your own eyes (and your daughter's) you saw an object that's composed of left-overs from the formation of the solar system...very old stuff indeed!
Adrienne
Odd how that strange dark could at the horizon appears different from different locations.
If that dark cloud hadn't been there, my daughter wouldn't have been able to tell me where the comet was.
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
I think we have 2 more nights to see the comet? Your comments did give me pause... never thought about a comet like that. Unlike the thing I saw the night before, the comet was so faint I'm not even sure I saw it with my eyes. My daughter kept thinking she was seeing things, then finally decided it was a comet. I aimed and shot!
I didn't even think about the brightness of the sunset as usually I look for comets and sky stuff when it's dark and there's a good contrast.
The comet did not show up where the sun set, however (as I read on space.com) but to the north of it.
I doubt very much I'll be able to see it tonight, but I'll give it a try.
http://www.twitter.com/deegolden
yeah - the astronomers try to figure out it's path, but there are so many variables (including, how much it's sublimating with the sun's heat, how the vapor trail affects it's path, mass/density, what's it really made of (how much ice vs. how much rock), etc. that the "predictions" can be off a little bit. My diagram was from a software package called Starry Night and is by no means completely accurate for comets and such...just a general idea. Same with info from space.com and such places...though Heaven's Above does give it's exact position at the current time...but predictions for anything 24 hours or more in advance are hard to be completely accurate about.
I'm hoping the clouds clear here and maybe I can get another look tonight.
We should though, be getting some very nice images from southern hemisphere observers in the next few weeks!
I should add though, that's it's become so bright (Sat Jan 13) that it can be seen during the day! Check out http://www.spaceweather.com as someone in Switzerland got a daytime image... "
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]This weekend is a special time for Comet McNaught because it is passing close to the sun. Solar heat is causing the comet to vaporize furiously and brighten to daylight visibility. At magnitude -4 to -5, McNaught is the brightest comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965.[/FONT]
Still partially cloudy here, but I do keep checking
Adrienne
The tail was almost lost to thr sunset glow.
NIce sequence! I saw them also on spaceweather.com
My airplane photo didn't make it (sniff sniff) --- but many other great images have. Can't wait to see what comes out of the southern hemisphere in the coming weeks!
Adrienne
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