 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Welcome to the nightskyhunter comet Mc Naught Gallery. Discovered by professional astronomer Robert Mc Naught in August of 2006 at the Siding Spring observatory in Australia during the course of the observatory's search for near Earth asteroids and comets that could one day threaten civilisation. C/2006 P1 Mc Naught has become the most talked about great comet of modern times, as it brightened it surpassed the magnitude of Hale - Bopp in 1997 and became the brightest comet in 42 years since the great sun grazer Ikeya - Seki of 1965 grabbed the attention of the world. Mc Naught attained an incredible magnitude of - 6.0 during perihelion passage around the sun in mid January when it was seen beside the sun in broad daylight with the naked eye complete with tail. When it emerged from the solar glare in late January within the evening sky for observers in the southern hemisphere it became an incredible sight with the naked eye sporting a high surface brightness strongly curved dust tail extending 160 moon diameters in length with stunning striations/synchronic banding the likes of which have never been witnessed before. The tail was so long that it was visible from the northern hemisphere while the coma was visible far below the equator! No astronomer alive today has ever seen a comet like this before, the images that were obtained from amateurs around the world are without doubt the best comet images ever taken. Below I would like to share with you a sample of these images documenting the comets changing appearance through its breathtaking apparition from both hemispheres. This gallery is my own tribute to the great daylight comet of 2007!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
36 |
37 |
38 |
39 |
40 |
 |
 |
 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
21 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
22 |
23 |
24 |
25 |
26 |
27 |
28 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
29 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
35 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
36 |
37 |
38 |
39 |
40 |
41 |
42 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
43 |
44 |
45 |
46 |
47 |
48 |
49 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
50 |
51 |
52 |
53 |
54 |
55 |
56 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
57 |
58 |
59 |
Despite being a southern hemisphere object in late January 2007 the comet's giant peacock shaped dust tail extending 80 degrees from the nucleus has been observed and imaged above the horizon from the northern hemisphere!
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
ALSO SEE.. IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE IMAGE
If you have an image you would like to submit for inclusion within the nightskyhunter comet Mc Naught gallery then please contact me at the following address...
mail@nightskyhunter.com (please send all images as jpeg and no larger than 800 pixels wide)
A special thanks to everyone who sent in their images, observations and poems of this spectacular comet.
Discovery story of P1 by Robert Mc Naught.