Comet blows SA away
2007-01-23 10:30
Cape Town - South Africans have been blown away by the arrival of Comet McNaught in our evening sky.
Reported to be the brightest comet visible from earth in the last 30 years, McNaught has captured the imagination of countless of South Africans, prompting readers of News24 to send in numerous pictures taken of the comet seen from Cape Town, Johannesburg, Porterville, the West Coast and many more places around the country.
"It will remain a spectacular comet for weeks, perhaps months, in the Southern Hemisphere," Nasa astronomer Tony Phillips told the Associated Press.
Dr Claire Flanagan, director of the Johannesburg Planetarium, said southern African sky watchers should get a glimpse of Comet McNaught in the early evening sky for at least a week or so in middle to end of January.
Look to the west
"To see the comet, all you need is a clear view to the west. Go out and start looking as the sun sets."
"The comet will look like an elongated cloud pointing upwards and to the left. "
"About an hour after sunset the comet will have disappeared below the horizon, but it will re-appear the next evening, a little further to the left (south)."
Facts about Comet NcNaught:
Comet McNaught was discovered by Australian astronomer Robert H McNaught in August 7 2006
Its official name is C/2006 P1
It was at its brightest on January 12 2007 when it was calculated to be tens of times brighter than the planet Venus
Brighter than Halley's Comet (seen in 1986)
At its closest to the earth, it was still 16m miles away from the sun
Comets are thought to be fragile agglomerations of ice and dust, rubble left from the creation of the solar system, states AFP
The word comet is from the Latin cometes. The Greek word komē, means "hair of the head," and Aristotle first used the derivation komētēs to depict comets as "stars with hair." (Wikipedia)
Historically, comets are seen as bad omens
The first recorded comet was seen in 1066
Most comets cannot be seen with the human eye