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Comet C/2006 P1 (Comet McNaught)
The following can be used as a guide to find Comet McNaught from Coonabarabran.
Please
note that because the comet is fairly CLOSE TO THE SUN, you must take
care not to look at the Sun WITH OR WITHOUT any instruments since doing
so could result in damage to one or more of your eyes. It is best
to wait until the Sun has set before
attempting to view the Comet. If you setup your equipment while the Sun is still visible make sure that no one else can
inadvertently or intentionally use your equipment to look at the Sun.
You will need a site with views to the western and south-western horizons to observe from.
After
the Sun has set below the horizon and it starts to get darker you
should be able to see the comet and it's tail (depending on the date of observation as explained below).
The diagram
at the bottom of this page shows the position of the comet (relative to the Sun) at sunset between the dates of 13
January 2007 and 23 January 2007 inclusive. The approximate local Coonabarabran time
of sunset is also shown (after the @ symbol) and the approximate
distance from the Sun at that time (in parenthesis).
The Sun will set
between the westerly and south-westerly directions.
Do not expect to
see the comet's head when it is still only a few degrees from the Sun
because the sky will be too bright. However, from the 15th or 16th
January, as it gets darker you might be able to see the comet's tail.
From the 17th January onwards, you might be able to see the whole comet
as it moves further from the Sun, but it will start to get dimmer.
Please see the website at "http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rmn/C2006P1.htm" for more details.
The following table shows in tabular form the information shown in the
diagram below as well as the approximate local (Coonabarabran) setting
time of Comet McNaught.
| Date |
Time of Sunset |
Distance of Comet From Sun at Time of Sunset |
Time Comet Sets |
| 13 January 2007 |
8:11 pm |
5.97 degrees |
8:20 pm |
| 14 January 2007 |
8:11 pm |
5.52 degrees |
8:34 pm |
| 15 January 2007 |
8:11 pm |
7.16 degrees |
8:47 pm |
| 16 January 2007 |
8:11 pm |
9.79 degrees |
9:00 pm |
| 17 January 2007 |
8:11 pm |
12.57 degrees |
9:13 pm |
| 18 January 2007 |
8:10 pm |
15.22 degrees |
9:24 pm |
| 19 January 2007 |
8:10 pm |
17.65 degrees |
9:35 pm |
| 20 January 2007 |
8:10 pm |
19.85 degrees |
9:44 pm |
| 21 January 2007 |
8:09 pm |
21.85 degrees |
9:54 pm |
| 22 January 2007 |
8:09 pm |
23.65 degrees |
10:02 pm |
| 23 January 2007 |
8:09 pm |
25.30 degrees |
10:10 pm |
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