Comet McNaught from the Berkeley Hills, 1/09/07

by Bill Cone

I snuck out of work a tad early to beat the traffic through the tunnel, climbed up Fish Ranch Rd, and pulled out at a wide spot on Grizzly Peak Blvd., with a wide view of the western horizon. The sun set right between the Bank of America Building and the Transamerica tower. I spotted Venus around 5:25, and the comet a minute later through binocs. As Carter pointed out a few days ago, the comet is about 20 degrees North, on the horizon, from Venus, and about 5 degrees lower. Through a pair of no name 10 x 50 binos I rescued from the trash at work, I could see a very bright nucleus, and a textbook fanning tail that, with averted vision, doubled in length, covering perhaps as much as 1 degree. Once I was sure of it's position I checked it naked and it was easy to see. The sun was casting fanning rays of transparent orange and the long shadows from below the horizon in the manner of an old fruit box label of a California sunset. Periodically the comet would pass through a band of orange light, or a darker shadow band.

As the comet grew lower, it slowly drifted to the North along the horizon. I first spotted it about 5 degrees above the South approach to the Golden Gate Bridge, and by the time it winked out of sight in the murk, it was about mid-span. Several jets passed through my fov as I watched the comet through binocs. I alternated with naked eye views, and the binos, until I lost it around 5:58, just above the horizon, at which point it was the dullest of pink sparks.

Great object. Good excuse to leave work early. woohoo!

-b.