Comet McNaught from Santa Clara

by Kevin Schuerman

I guess the third time's a charm. After two unsuccessful attempts to locate the comet (last night and Tuesday night), I finally spotted it from my front yard in Santa Clara at 5:20pm this evening. Since the comet's getting lower with each passing day, I decided to try as soon after sunset as I could. I grabbed my 9x63 binos and started searching for Venus, figuring I'd then hop to the comet once I was successful in finding the planet. I was having a hard time finding Venus, so I then aimed at the distant mountaintops to be sure that I was at infinity focus and ... WOW!!! There it was in all its glory! The coma was very bright and the long tail was pointed away from where the Sun had set. After finding it in binoculars, it became a fairly easy nekked-eye object. Christine suggested grabbing a telescope, but I insisted there wasn't enough time for that. As a compromise, I hastily gathered my photo tripod and binocular mount to watch the comet as it set. In the five m inutes it took me to set up the tripod, the comet had disappeared. Oh well, I'm very happy that I got to see it before perihelion and its passage to the Southern Hemisphere's sky.

Stay warm,

Kevin Schuerman