Waiting For McNaught

I can't believe my ears...or eyes. I haven't heard or read word one about Comet McNaught here yet...and it's going to be gone in a flash. I even checked out the W.A. Gayle Planetarium site...and other than needing to be updated (c'mon, there has to be a bunch of amateur astronomers in the Montgomery area who can contribute some dialogue to this waning site)...there's only one photo displaying the comet (hiding under "Picture of the Day")...and just a tiny tidbit talking about it.

Well, I've been talking about it for some time...in fact, that's one of the reasons I bought my children the telescope...because of this...and, of course, to see all the other interesting night sky stuff. So, I have my "find it in the sky" program that is very nifty indeed...in fact we sped it up to the year 3000 today just for the fun of it. Anyway, it shows you where things are in your area...and I asked a neighbour if I could camp out on his lawn as they have a magnificent panoramic view of the evening sky. The comet is supposed to show up right near where the sun sets...only, as luck would have it, it was obscured by clouds tonight...or so I'm hoping. I'd much rather cloud-cover be the case than the alternative: Simply cannot been seen in our night sky. I admit we didn't try with the telescope...I was hoping it would be as bright as Comet Hale-Bopp was in 1997...that one was utterly amazing to me...and the first and only one I've seen. I'm hoping to see another.

So, I will steadfastly try again tomorrow and attempt to see it...perhaps we will bring the telescope on over to his overlook...after all, even if it's all for McNaught (bad pun intended)...there's still a whole lot of other celestial viewing material to pick from.

So, get out there before it's gone...and see it, too...and tell a friend or two...the astronomers are saying it's the best comet to come along in 30 years...don't let it pass you by.