The Magnificent Tail of
Comet McNaught
From
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
Comet McNaught, the
Great Comet of 2007, grew a spectacularly long and filamentary tail. The
magnificent tail spread
across the sky and was visible for several days to Southern Hemisphere
observers just after sunset.
The amazing tail showed its
greatest extent on long-duration, wide-angle camera exposures.
During some times, just
the tail itself estimated to attain a peak brightness of magnitude -5
(minus five), was caught by the comet's discoverer in
the image below just
after sunset in January 2007 from Siding Spring
Observatory in Australia.
Comet McNaught, the
brightest comet in decades, then faded as it
moved further into southern skies and
away from the Sun and Earth.
Within the next two
weeks of 2013, rapidly brightening Comet ISON might sprout
a tail that rivals even Comet McNaught.
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert H. McNaught