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by **Dreamweaver** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:24 pm

Ok guys the brightest comet since 1965 is visible in the daylight sky! Yes I said Daylight. I got a sneek peek of it just minutes after sunset tonight in the western sky.

Your mission should you accept it is to see if you can get a photo of it with a digital camera! So far I have failed on this count with astronomy photos prefering my old SLR real camera.

http://www.spaceweather.com/

I case your wonderig yes I got a few photos and no I will not put them on a public site. I get money if my shots are accepted by magazines.

by **JonARNZ** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:35 pm

Thats pretty cool, all I need is for the clouds to disappear and I might have a chance.

by **ardypilot** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 1:05 am

Onboard SJ910 on Thursday night, the captain told us over the intercom to look out our windows to see this 'Comet McNaught' but I couldn't spot it- must have been on the other side of the aircraft.

Anyway, this evening (Friday) I went down to the Auckland Stardome at One Tree Hill where there was quite an interesting exhibition about it, look forward to seeing it tomorrow night if the weather clears up.

by **Dreamweaver** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:42 am

Well Trolly you have missed the best show that Comet has had to offer! Its fading fast and the Moons light is interfering making it harder to see.
Its no where near as spectacular as it was last week and its appearing later in the sky look to the south west sky after 930pm.
Surely on your little holiday you stayed up after sunset and it was not cloudy all the time?

by **Kelburn** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:47 am

When I was up at my relatives house (which was on a farm) I saw four nights in a row but taking a picture was to hard unfortunately

by **Dreamweaver** » Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:55 am

Kelburn wrote: taking a picture was to hard unfortunately

Unless you have time exposure and stable tripod the darker the sky the harder it is to see. Also use a timer to let the camera settle before the shutter opens or cable release.
I still use a pre digital SLR which is getting expensive to find a developer who wont stuff up the development the majority unless told will look at a roll of film and say there is nothing on it <_<

Last night I forgot one of my rules using the digital and the results were far from impressive.

by **Alex** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:02 pm

We live about 20km out of Rotorua, and we saw it a couple of weeks ago, we just set the telescope up on the front lawn to check it out and it went behind a cloud. :lol:

Pretty good to see it though, and a massive tail...

Alex

by **JonARNZ** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:19 pm

From Wellingtons south coast

user posted image

by **ardypilot** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 10:38 pm

Surely on your little holiday you stayed up after sunset and it was not cloudy all the time?

Lol of course, it gets dark there at 6pm as there is no daylight saving in QLD. But there was no speak of comets in the news there so we never bothered looking.

by **Captain_Hamish** » Sun Jan 28, 2007 11:23 pm

i forgot to look for it lol

by **towerguy** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 6:58 am

unfortunately didn't get to see it but..

it missed - what else do I really need to know....? :lol:

by **Jimmy** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 3:01 pm

I went up the hill with my parants last night too see it, was waste of time as all you coudl see of the sky was way on the horizon under a cloud arch thingy, they went up the hill with out me a few nights ago and said they saw it, I then went on to the street and saw the tail or something, althoguh my eyes were still adjusting from being infront of this screen.

Anyways its jsut a rocky icey thing, I think looking at the sun is more interesting, its far bigger

by **Captain_Hamish** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 7:07 pm

hey james

u might be a bit young to know this but last i was aware the comet was'nt an icey rock thing it was a passenger plane and the nimrod was military version of it lol everyone else on here might know wot a comet is but ian warren you should know wot it is you are always giving me a lecture about aircraft lol

by **brownbox** » Mon Jan 29, 2007 7:31 pm

i had a look last saturday, and it was pretty cool. Looked last night, and its turned pretty crappy. Had some photos somewhere, Ill post when I find them B)

by **Dreamweaver** » Tue Jan 30, 2007 2:07 pm

Anyways its jsut a rocky icey thing, I think looking at the sun is more interesting, its far bigger

And we worry about the youth of today

Just think of what would happen if that rocky Icey thing was to hit little old planet Earth?

I had a look at it last couple of nights and its fading fast! You need idealy to be out in the dark for at least 10 minutes to get your eyes acustomed but also avoid looking at the brightening Moon which is helping to wash out the light from the comet.

With the advent of the digital age trying to make a buck out of a good photo is more luck now than skill. There are thousands of images on the World Wide Web :blink:

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