McNaught from Fremont

by Darren Hutchinson

Unfortunately work commitments prevent me from getting out to any of the normal sites by 5pm, but fortunately I work next to the bay in Fremont. The horizon to the west is slightly blocked by the South San Francisco hills, but I only lose about a degree or so of horizon and so it seemed worth a try.

I wasn't disappointed! I first tried around 5:10p but couldn't find it, so I went back inside to warm up. Returning at about 5:20p I was able to find it easily about 5 to 7 deg above the horizon and between 10 and 15deg (I think - my hand is uncalibrated) below and to the right of Venus.

Once found with the binoculars it was easily visible naked-eye until it hit the South San Francisco hills about 5:40 or so. It was pretty much the same visibility from 5:20p to 5:35p - as it got lower the sky got darker.

It was quite bright (seems a little less bright than Venus, but Venus in a much darker part of the sky) with a very well defined tail that I thought may have had some visible structure, being brighter on left side with some streaks near the middle and a little brighter to the right. It seemed to be about 1/4 of my 8x50 binocular FoV (I'm not sure off hand what that is) long.

Overall well worth standing out in the freezing wind - I think it's going to be a cold one tonight!

Darren.