Did you sleep through the auroras of Dec. 14th? Next time get a wake-up call: Spaceweather PHONE.
AURORA WATCH: Sky watchers from Scandinavia to Alaska should be alert for auroras on Jan. 16th. A solar wind stream will hit Earth and the impact could cause a high-latitude geomagnetic storm.
DAYTIME COMET: Comet McNaught is now visible in broad daylight. "It's fantastic," reports Wayne Winch of Bishop, California. "I put the sun behind a neighbor's house to block the glare and the comet popped right into view. You can even see the tail!"
Just hours ago, Mark Vornhusen took this picture of the comet between clouds over Gais, Switzerland:
Photo details: Nikon D70 camera, 500 mm lens.
This weekend is a special time for Comet McNaught because it is passing close to the sun. Solar heat is causing the comet to vaporize furiously and brighten to daylight visibility. At magnitude -4 to -5, McNaught is the brightest comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965.
The secret to seeing McNaught: Get rid of the sun. You can do this by standing in the shadow of a tall building or billboard. Make a fist and hold it at arm's length. The comet is about one fist-width (5 degrees) east of the sun's position. Try it!
Warning: Binoculars dramatically improve the view of the comet, allowing you to see structure within the tail . But please be super-careful not to look at the sun. Direct sunlight through binoculars can cause permanent eye damage.
Comet McNaught Photo Gallery
[finder chart] [ephemeris] [realtime images from space]
SUNSET COMET MIRAGE: Last night on a beach near San Francisco, Mila Zinkova photographed something truly rare: a sunset comet mirage.
"I was lucky," she says. "Sky conditions were perfect and I had a crystal-clear view of the horizon. When I arrived at the beach I quickly noticed an inferior mirage of some islands in the distance, followed by an inferior mirage of the setting sun." Comet McNaught followed the sun, and it miraged, too:
Photo details: Canon XTI, 300 mm lens, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/20 sec exposure.
Inserts show how the mirage developed: the real comet descends from above while a phantom comet rises from the waves. Eventually, the two merge. "It looks like the comet was reflected in the water, but it is actually refraction produced by temperature gradients in the air just above the water."
"As I watched the comet," says Zinkova, "it was interesting to think that SOHO and I were watching the comet at the same time. These pictures are not spectacular, but I believe they are unique."