Comparsion: Comet McNaught and Comet West

Very interesting how the extended tails of both these comets seem to
be broken into "rays".

Both comets reached peak magnitudes of around -3, visible in daylight,
and were generally overlooked outside the astronomical community.

2007 Comet McNaught, recent pics:
http://spaceweather.com/comets/galle...ght_page12.htm

1976 Comet West:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_West

Yep, I'm 0-2 in observing these great comets. :-(

If you recall, the nucleus of Comet West broke apart. I'm wondering if
McNaught is doing the same?

JackPeters wrote:

Very interesting how the extended tails of both these comets seem to
be broken into "rays".

Both comets reached peak magnitudes of around -3, visible in daylight,
and were generally overlooked outside the astronomical community.

2007 Comet McNaught, recent pics:
http://spaceweather.com/comets/galle...ght_page12.htm

1976 Comet West:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_West

Yep, I'm 0-2 in observing these great comets. :-(


I remember that my first comet was Ikeya-Seki in 1966(?) and that I
was fairly disappointed with it. It was pre the days of my owning
anything optical - not even binoculars. It was whispier, dimmer and
smaller than the press hype had led me to believe it would be.
Bennett (1970?) was fairly spectacular. West I missed altogether - I
think I was involved in an engineering project in a foreign city
without the means to get to an unlit observing spot. The much
maligned Halley, which I tracked with my first refractor (bought
specially for the occasion), from a fuzzy blob in the Pleiades on its
way into the sun until it faded, I can remember had a few mornings in
February or March when it was fairly spectacular, given the
constraints of the pass.

Eugene L Griessel

His was the sort of career that made the Recording Angel think
seriously about taking up shorthand.

In article ,
JackPeters wrote:

Very interesting how the extended tails of both these comets seem to
be broken into "rays".

Both comets reached peak magnitudes of around -3, visible in daylight,
and were generally overlooked outside the astronomical community.

2007 Comet McNaught, recent pics:
http://spaceweather.com/comets/galle...ght_page12.htm

1976 Comet West:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_West

Yep, I'm 0-2 in observing these great comets. :-(


Comet West and Comet McNaught are indeed similar, but in one respect
they are the inverses of one another:

Comet West was discovered in the far southern sky, moved rapidly
northward around perihelion in 1976, and afterwards it became
unexpectedly bright and got a long, interesting tail, to the delight
of us northerners.

Comet McNaught moved in the opposite direction around perihelion: from
north to south, and is now unexpectedly bright and has a long
interesting tail, to the delight of the southerners.


One reason Comet West's brightness was unexpected is probably due to
Comet Kohoutek in 1973-1974: Kohoutek was discovered 9 months before
perihelion, which was unusually long by the standards at that time.
Kohoutek would also have a small perihelion distance. Because of
this, early predictions of Kohoutek's peak brightness were very
optimistic, claiming that Kohoutek would exceed Venus, and even
approach the Moon, in brightness. In reality, Kohoutek peaked around
magnitude -1 but was then so close to the Sun in the sky that only
Skylab astronauts could view this. When Kohoutek became visible to
ground-based observers, it had dropped to well below magnitude 0 in
brightness.

This failed prediction of Kohoutek as "the comet of the century"
probably caused a much more conservative prediction of Comet West's
brightness, making the astronomers err in the other direction. As a
result, Comet West became considerably brighter than expected.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
WWW: http://stjarnhimlen.se/

There is ying and yang in astronomy. Everybody gets their fair view
and all are satisfied. Today with the internet, we can share our fair
view with others straight away. Comet West came before I became fully
astronomically aware but the rumblings from Kohoutek were re-awaken
when Comet Austin (1990) failed to brighten to expectation.

Pierre MK-UK

Paul Schlyter wrote:

Comet West and Comet McNaught are indeed similar, but in one respect
they are the inverses of one another:

Comet West was discovered in the far southern sky, moved rapidly
northward around perihelion in 1976, and afterwards it became
unexpectedly bright and got a long, interesting tail, to the delight
of us northerners.

Comet McNaught moved in the opposite direction around perihelion: from
north to south, and is now unexpectedly bright and has a long
interesting tail, to the delight of the southerners.

One reason Comet West's brightness was unexpected is probably due to
Comet Kohoutek in 1973-1974: Kohoutek was discovered 9 months before
perihelion, which was unusually long by the standards at that time.
Kohoutek would also have a small perihelion distance. Because of
this, early predictions of Kohoutek's peak brightness were very
optimistic, claiming that Kohoutek would exceed Venus, and even
approach the Moon, in brightness. In reality, Kohoutek peaked around
magnitude -1 but was then so close to the Sun in the sky that only
Skylab astronauts could view this. When Kohoutek became visible to
ground-based observers, it had dropped to well below magnitude 0 in
brightness.

This failed prediction of Kohoutek as "the comet of the century"
probably caused a much more conservative prediction of Comet West's
brightness, making the astronomers err in the other direction. As a
result, Comet West became considerably brighter than expected.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
WWW: http://stjarnhimlen.se/

"Pierre" wrote:

There is ying and yang in astronomy. Everybody gets their fair view
and all are satisfied. Today with the internet, we can share our fair
view with others straight away. Comet West came before I became fully
astronomically aware but the rumblings from Kohoutek were re-awaken
when Comet Austin (1990) failed to brighten to expectation.

Strange how things come back to bite - I rang a non-astro interested
pal this evening to try and get him to go out to look at McNaught
(tail was naked eye visible for about 30 to 35 degrees). He replied
that he would not bother and he had not bothered since Kohoutek to
look at comets. I was quite stumped.

At the same time the moon occulted Venus - spectacular as well!

Eugene L Griessel

Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a God superior to themselves.
Most Gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child.

Kohoutek suffered because of HYPE and also something that David Levy
has said many times
(not sure if this is the exact quote but I believe it is) "Comets are
like cats; they both have tails and do what they want to" such as not
brightening when they ought or fading out.

Interestingly enough, West, which was very visible, before sunrise in
ealry march 1976 (northern hemisphere) never got any hype at all.

For anyone who is interested and who subscribes to "Amateur Astronomy
Magazine" I wrote a small piece about my misadventure while looking at
Comet West and I believe it's in one of the earlier (1,2 or 3) issues
entitled "Comets".

As to a total lack of interest in something celestial as bright as
McNaught these days I refer you to the short anecdote I like to tell
folks sometimes about an encounter I had with a couple on the Big
Island in July 1991...

You see I was lucky enough to find out that I was going to Hawaii
instead of going to Paris to see my sis Anne graduate. I had NO
formere knowledge of this until she told me as one of her roomates
lived on the big Island and I was to stay with his parents.

So I arrived on the big island, as they call it and before the eclipse
I was looking for things to do.
I met a couple waiting for a helicopter ride and chatted with them for
a few minutes. They told me they were sightseeing and would leave
before the eclipse.

When I prodded and said to them that they should try and stay to see it
they said they were due on another island!

To me, that has to be the dummest most stupid things I have ever
heard...to miss an eclipse a Total Solar Eclipse because of rank
stupidity.

It's one of the most awe inspiring things to see the sun & dark moon
converge and the corona and the diamond ring...but maybe not so awe
inspiring as a great aurora borealis.

But then most folks never look up at the sky at all...

How sad indeed

Patrick Edward Murray wrote:

To me, that has to be the dummest most stupid things I have ever
heard...to miss an eclipse a Total Solar Eclipse because of rank
stupidity.

"You can lead a horse to water..." But if they're so stupid they're
being compared to horses you can't expect them to appreciate something
as sublime as a solar eclipse from Hawaii.


Shawn