The truth about Comet McNaught

[danielj]

The comet McNaught wasn??t so spetacular in the Southern Hemisphere,contrary to the common belief of europeans and americans,because in Sao Paulo,rained most of the time and even when it didn??t,the comet was so low that only in places with a clear horizon and relatively high altitude,could be seen anything.So not everyone see an spetacle.Me,for example,saw the comet only at day and with binoculars,once.Many people tried to see the comet at midday,but doing this near the sun was very dangerous.So,although it was the brightest comet in years,it paled because the great nearness to the Sun and the time of the year wasn??t very good because it was rainy season.So I am still waiting for a GREAT COMET.Even Halle-Bopp and Hyakutake and perhaps Halley was much better than this McNaught...

[Dollan]

Even in Montana, I saw McNaught several times, and it was spectacular, *far* outshining any of those previous comets. It easily rivaled Venus in brightness (which lay fairly close to it towards the end of its northern hemisphere run), and it displayed a fine, if somewhat truncated, tail.

I would submit, Daniel, that you simply had crappy luck when trying to view it. Certainly the potential exists for bright comets to be in more favorable positions, but thus far, in my nearly 37 years of life, this was the best comet that I had ever seen (having missed out on Comet West of 1976 thanks to a lack of interest... and being only 6 years old at the time).

[buggs_moran]

Ditto Dolan,

I only caught one glimpse of McNaught on an afternoon before it went south but it was impressive to see in the twilight. It was ridiculously cloudy here for the few weeks of visibility and on days that it was nice, time and work did not go in my favor. Sorry it didn't go better for you Daniel.

Hale Bopp in Texas was my best ever. And I saw Halley from the top of a ski mountain in 86', but it was disappointing. The caveat was that we got to ski until dawn. Quite an experience.

My favorite shot of McNaught is here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnwhite/366649244/

[Hungry4info]

My luck with observing McNaught was even worse. There was a cold front or something that moved in right before the comet was visible. Clouds covered the entire sky. The clouds left (as expected...) the day that the comet was no longer visible from my latitude.

[LordFerret]

I didn't get to see it at all, except through the pictures and description as seen through Guillermo Abramson's eyes - for which I'm grateful he'd taken the time and effort to provide!

So - thanks again Guillerno!