Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand Comet and Meteor Section
COMET 2006 P1 (McNaught)
WOW!!!!! WHAT A COMET. Comet McNaught is the brightest comet in history since Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965 reaching a magnitude of about -5.5! Robert McNaught (a professional astronomer) discovered it at magnitude 17 on August 7 2006 from Siding Springs, NSW, Australia. Below are photos I've taken (most recent at the top) and daily positions...
 |
|
Thurs 26.73 April 2007 (UT). McNaught imaged with
a 41cm (16") f5.2 Newtonian + STL11000 CCD. 60sec - 2 x Lum, 2xR,
2xG, 2xB. Early twilight.
|
 |
|
Wed 13.43 Feb 2007 (UT). McNaught imaged through an
ED80 (80mm @ f8.6) refractor + STL11000 CCD. 60sec - 7 x Lum, 5xR, 4xG,
4xB. Anti-tail???
|
 |
|
Comet McNaught from the Coromandel at 4:30am local
time, 31 Jan 2007. 24mm f4.5 lens @ 800asa - 1 minute
|
 |
|
Young comet watchers (Gemma, Ananda, Simon, ?) - Comet
McNaught during a bright Moon. Tues 30 Jan 2007, 10:30pm. 20mm f4.5
lens @ 800asa - 38 sec
|
 |
|
Comet McNaught at 5am local time. Monday 29.66 Jan
2007 (UT). 50mm f4.5 lens @ 800asa - 7 x 30second exp stacked (added)
|
 |
|
Comet McNaught at 4:45am local time. Monday 29.65
Jan 2007 (UT). 28mm f3.5 lens @ 3200asa - 46 seconds. SMC is upper right
|
 |
|
Comet McNaught in the morning sky. Sunday 28 Jan 2007
- 4:30am NZDT. Possum and Cockroach observatories in foreground. SMC
in upper right corner
|
 |
|
22.41 Jan '07 (11pm). Two x 24mm mosaic showing the
shear vastness of the tail. The FOV is 120 x 40 degrees - so the tail
in this image is about 80 x 30 degrees! Also of interest is the bright
green meteor (right of centre) that flared twice (probably about mag
-4) and the plane path at lower right - I presume the pilot was swaying
the plane so that passengers could get better views of the comet...
Details: Canon 10D DSLR, 2 x 24mm lens mosaic @ f3.5 @ 800asa.
|
 |
| 22.39 Jan '07 (~10:30pm). This image was taken through my 41cm (16") f4.5 Meade Starfinder Newtonian with a CCD. The exposures were 8 seconds - Lum x 3, Red x 5, Green x 3, Blue x 3. The nose on the comet is an artifect of being over exposed (I presume) with this anti-blooming camera (SBIG 11000M). The FOV is 1 degree x 0.66 degrees. The vignetting is a result of the sky still being in late twilight. |
 |
|
Monday 22.37 Jan '07 (10pm local). Comet, meteor,
and Moon. 24mm lens @ f3.5 @ 800asa 90 seconds. FOV = ~60 x 40 degrees.
|
 |
|
21 Jan '07. Comet Watchers. Chris and Jennifer Picking
enjoying a moment together under the cloud obscurred comet. You been
rolling in the grass Chris?
|
 |
|
Friday 19.38 (10:05-10pm local) Jan '07. 8 x 30 seconds
stacked on the head. 48mm lens @ f4 @800asa. FOV = ~30 x 20 degrees
|
 |
|
Friday 19.37 (10pm local) Jan '07. 42mm f4 lens, 6
second exposure @ 800asa
|
 |
|
Thursday 18.37 (10pm local) Jan '07. 90mm f5.6 lens,
20 second exposure @ 800asa. FOV = ~ 15 x 10 degrees
|
 |
|
Thursday 18.36 (9:45pm local) Jan '07. 80mm refractor
(ED80) @ f7.5. 47 x 2 seconds stacked
|
 |
|
Sunday 14.00 (~1pm local) Jan '07. Daytime comet!
ED80 f7.5 refractor, 1/1000sec & 100asa.
|
My Daylight Observation...
C/2006 P1 (McNaught) 2007 January 10.06 UT: m1 = ~ -1.0, Dia.= ~2'.0, DC = 6, 41cm f4.5 Reflect (83x)...John Drummond, (Gisborne, New Zealand) [Saw McMaught during the daytime! (2:30pm local time). Quite easy to see in the 16". Has a tight, stellar nucleus and seems to be surrounded by a 'faint' small coma. Closest visible star for a mag comparisom was the SUN!!! No tail seen. 57° alt in the NW (the Sun was 12° to the south). Stellar LM = ~3 near comet (scope), rural sky]. Photo taken…
The following orbital elements were extracted from GUIDE 8.0 software -
Perihelion distance 0.1707470 AU
Orbital elements:
Eccentricity 1.0000200
Inclination of orbit 77.8317000 degrees
Argument of perihelion 155.9740000 degrees
Long. ascending node 267.4140000 degrees
Date of perihelion JD 2454113.29900 (12 Jan 2007 19:10:33)
Images coming when it can be imaged! Daily ephemerides are lower down.
| CLICK ON IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW... | DETAILS: | |
 |
Date (UT): Scope: Camera: Exposures and ISO: NOTES: |
10.06 January 2007 (UT). 2:30pm 16" (41cm) f4.5 Meade Starfinder Newtonian Canon EOS 10D DSLR 85 x 1/2000 sec @ 100 ISO Taken during the daytime. Sun 12 deg away |
|
Comet McNaught at 2:30pm local time
|
||
 |
Date (UT): Scope: Camera: Exposures and ISO: NOTES: |
10.06 January 2007 (UT). 2:30pm 16" (41cm) f4.5 Meade Starfinder Newtonian Canon EOS 10D DSLR 85 x 1/2000 sec @ 100 ISO Cropped of added images. Is that a tail? |
|
Comet McNaught - images added when stacked
|
C/2006 P1 - One day positions...