McNaught's Comet

Brett thoughtfully let us know about McNaught's Comet, the brightest comet in 40 years! On Monday evening Sarah and I went up Mt. Archer to watch it. Unfortunately the cloud cover and haze was terrible, making it impossible to see the sun set let alone a comet! I returned on Wednesday evening but it was just as bad. This was pretty depressing, since the comet's peak brightness was on Monday and it's supposed to fade over the week, so I was afraid we'd miss it altogether.
Nevertheless we gave it another chance last night, Thursday, and we were finally rewarded! I wish we'd brought binoculars or a telescope, but thanks to the tripod Sarah gave me for Christmas, I was able to take some pretty decent shots with my wannabe camera ;)
(click for higher res!)


No comet here, just a nice view of the city under a gentle sunset before the comet became visible.


Pretty good shot of the comet over the city. Bonus aeroplane to the left ;) There's a bit of camera movement blurring the lights; I mustn't have tightened the tripod enough.


Just the comet.


Just the comet again.

I might go up again tonight to check it out again... I reckon it's pretty exciting :)