Jeri Smith-Ready: Oh to be down under

Friday, January 19, 2007

Oh to be down under

As Comet McNaught approached the sun last week, it was visible even during the day. Now it's a breathtaking spectacle for the southern hemisphere. Here's a shot of it at twilight over Auckland, NZ:

Photo Credit: Jamie Newman, Auckland New Zealand

The tail has curved enough that it can be seen just after sunset in the northern hemisphere in places like Colorado and California.

For more beauteous pics, visit Spaceweather.com's Comet McNaught Photo Gallery.

This has nothing to do with writing. It's just freakin' cool.

Labels: astronomy

posted by Jeri @ 2:22 PM
4 comments

4 Comments:

Yeah that's how I feel about the Northern Lights. I wish I could see em up close and personal.:-)

Posted by: Kathy at 1/19/2007 4:19 PM

Ooh, we saw the Northern Lights once right here in Maryland, about two years ago. It was amazing.

Posted by: Jeri at 1/19/2007 5:17 PM

Those are always amazing. How do you see the Northern Lights in Maryland?

Posted by: Nozomi at 1/19/2007 10:50 PM

It was just a really strong magnetic storm due to a solar flare. It's extremely uncommon for them to be visible this far south. It helps that we live in a rural area.

If you go to Spaceweather.com, you can sign up for their e-mail alerts that will tell you when cool stuff is happening. Like for instance, Saturday night right after sunset, the crescent moon will come really close to Venus (well, from our perspective, at least).

Usually the sunspot activity can be predicted, so you can know ahead of time if aurora can be seen in your area. You can even sign up to have them telephone you in the event of an aurora borealis sighting. Or, say, an imminent asteroid impact.

Posted by: Jeri at 1/19/2007 11:01 PM