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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2298      2007 Jan 12 10.15UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise,  Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074
INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK      Backup: gmh@wdcc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk
WORLD WIDE WEB                         http://www.theastronomer.org
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COMET C/2006 P1 (MCNAUGHT)
Bjorn Granslo, Norway, saw the comet visually on 2006 Dec 29 indicating 
it was much brighter than predicted and near magnitude 3.9. It was also 
seen by David Moore in Dublin on January 1 and subsequently Haakon Dahle 
in Norway imaged it on 2007 January 3 in the morning sky at 06.44UT 
using a Nikon D70 DSLR with a 300mm f5.6 on a series of 1 second 
exposures at ISO 800 (published in TA, 2007 January issue, in press).

A large number of reports and images have been received both from TA 
subscribers and members of the public. The general feedback is that the 
comet reached magnitude (m1) -2.0 to -2.5 and was seen by most on the 
evening of 2007 January 10 when weather conditions were particularly 
favourable for many parts of the UK. Despite the very low altitude, it 
was an easy naked eye object but most have reported that it was 
significantly fainter than the planet Venus.

The comet is now passing through the field of the SOHO LASCO 3 field and 
can be viewed on their website. The following 'Hotshot' page can be 
accessed to see the predicted path for LASCO 3 and covering January 
12-16:

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/

Live images can usually be seen at:

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html

by selecting LASCO 3.

On 2007 Jan 14 the planet Mercury, magnitude about -1, will also be in 
the field and at 15.55UT will be about 40 arcminutes from the comet. 
This may help to gauge the brightness of the comet at that stage.

Guy M Hurst