Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Comet McNaught details - Jan 22

The view on Jan 22 was about the best we've had, what with weather and clouds. The above is a relatively high zoom and displays McNaught's prominent tail (supposedly 100 million kilometers long).


It has been travelling through space for millions of years, and apparently won't be visible like this again for at least another 100,000 years. It's moving away from us at a speed of 60 km per second. At the moment it is about 145,000,000 km distant. These are amazing numbers, fill me with awe at the imensity of the Universe. And yet, when Comet McNaught first became visible that night ...

... it was an almost intimate feeling.

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