Saw a comet today

Cmcnaught-c2006p1_rhemann_mid.jpgharlotte and I rushed to Fort Funston to catch the sunset. We both needed the rays. Unfortunately, we missed the sun by 5 minutes. But there were a bunch of folks with fancy camera gear. I kept overhearing them talking about something moving really fast and such. Charlotte finally asked what they were doing. They were looking at Comet McNaught!

It was discovered just last year and it’s orbit isn’t known precicely, though it is extremely eccentric. It won’t be back for hundreds, thousands or maybe tens of thousands of years. NASA site on it’s orbit

I’ve only ever seen a glimpse of another comet, and that was on a hazy night. With my own eyes, I could make out the comet, streaking along just 15 million miles from the sun. And through binoculars, it looked “just like they do in the movies” :-)

So it’s a good thing we showed up when we did!

We’re going to go out just after sunset Sunday night to try and catch it. But it might already be gone.

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