Comments on: Comet McNaught VideoBlog

By: Derek S Colanduno

Derek S Colanduno — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:36:21 +0000

Phil!

Good job on the video blog thingy. I wish I had enough time to do more of that stuff! Now and then we include a small video with our podcast and put it on the front page of our site. We haven’t done one in a while so… this might kick me back into gear!

By: gfukaskv

gfukaskv — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 05:05:10 +0000

Should be availabe for the public around the clock...

By: Cheez_Mastah

Cheez_Mastah — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 04:13:54 +0000

You’ll have to wait a few years to see it again? I think I saw on TV that it will be another 3,000 years before it returns. When is it returning, exactly?

By: Darmok

Darmok — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 03:16:01 +0000

Very nice, but it must have taken a lot of time to put this together!

By: Kaptain K

Kaptain K — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:29:05 +0000

Added note;

Microphones are a lot like eyepieces. You can get a fairly decent one for a few tens of dollars, but the really good ones are REALLY expensive!

By: Kaptain K

Kaptain K — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:23:23 +0000

BEWARE!!!!! Slippery slope ahead! Sound work is much like astronomy. You can get started for a couple hundred bucks, but there is NO upper limit as to how much you can spend in search of that last little incremental improvement. I am a semi-retired soundman (mostly live sound reinforcement, but I’ve also done a few CDs). I have about $20K of equipment that i don’t use much any more, but I have an absolute KILLER stereo in my living room!

By: DJ

DJ — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 03:04:37 +0000

I love this site…and your video…mainly because it’s so easy to be educated here. I’m less than an amateur, I know 3 or 4 constellations and live in a cloud-encrusted light-polluted Great Lakes city. On the NASA sites, you’ve kind of gotta know your stuff in order to learn, but on BA, I feel like I’m in a class that I love and look forward to attending every day. I manage to learn something each day, and I’m generally talking enthusiastically about it to the family at the table. BA has linked me to places and things I never knew existed, and made me think deeply now and then – more deeply than I usually do anyway. (I don’t do that at work; they don’t pay me to think.) The video allowed me to finally meet my teacher, and that was cool. I guess we missed the comet due to relentless clouds, but I’ve learned a lot, so all is not lost. Loved the vid. Thanks.

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 22:38:22 +0000

Nicely put together video, Phil, thank you, it adds a new dimension to your blog.

By: DrFlimmer

DrFlimmer — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:27:06 +0000

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

The pic is really impressiv and there is also a video on the side. only 3sec long, but really incredible!

By: Thomas Siefert

Thomas Siefert — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:15:18 +0000

No no no, if you start doing video podcasts it’s no longer an office but a studio, you will need a camera man, a sound engineer, a boom operator (for the mike) and a producer.

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 18:59:28 +0000

spacewriter, I bought a Logitech USB mike. It’s not expensive, but I want something easy to try. If it doesn’t work, then I’ll have to take the plunge and do something better.

Now to figure out how to imporve the lighting in my office…

By: Look Up! - Asymptotia

Look Up! - Asymptotia — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:59:19 +0000

[...] ___________________________________________________________________________________ bThanks Amara! See also the Bad Astronomer. [...]

By: spacewriter

spacewriter — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:49:04 +0000

which mic did you buy, Phil? For this project we’re doing for the observatory (vodcasts), I bought a Blue Snowball USB mic for my desktop productions… it looks retro as all hell, it has GREAT frequency response for voiceover work, and was less than 100 bucks. It’s not a field mic, so I’m looking for a good one of those, too… (not necessarily USB though)

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:30:13 +0000

A one time transit? Guess that’s why it’s so bright. It’s never been here before. I wonder if the close solar approach will produce enough outgassing to seriously affect it’s orbit? How fun, to be around when a singular comet pays a visit,,,

GAry 7

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:24:12 +0000

WOW, I’ve gotta admit, I’m quite impressed with this one! In fact, this stuff on Comet McNaught oughta rank extremely high on the scale of noteworthiness. Oddly enough though, to receive this astro-data from the very home of the BA is somewhat akin to receiving breaking news from the oval office of the very president himself.;)

Once again, thanks for sharing the skies with us mere earthlings!

By: Paul Smith

Paul Smith — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:15:26 +0000

Just to update my previous comment, I said the right hand side of the Sun for the northern hemisphere, I meant the left hand side. 3 in the morning brain spasm.

By: dr_paul

dr_paul — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:14:06 +0000

PS i just googled a bit and eccentricity > 1 means hyperbolic orbit .. that means a one time transit.

By: dr_paul

dr_paul — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 17:11:03 +0000

Ernest you are misinterpreting the data, eccentricity is about the shape of the orbit (how much it differs from a circle) You should check for a (the major semiaxis) and see its like thousands of AU.. that means the comet will be some thousand times farther from the sun than the earth goes, so it will be a few millenia till it comes back, if it ever does.
Nice sight i’ll try do the building trick tomorrow if its not too late by then. Around 45 deg N here so i’ll be looking to the left of the Sun too

By: RomRod

RomRod — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 15:18:45 +0000

wow! just saw it in daylight… itÅ› 11:08am here in Venezuela and it can be seen with binoculars easily… but too dangerous to allow kids to see it… at our latitude (10.2 deg N) the comet seems to be in the lower left quadrant from the Sun.

By: bassmanpete

bassmanpete — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 12:09:50 +0000

Couldn’t find it in daylight here in Melbourne Australia but found it quickly after sunset – it was further from the sun than I expected from all that I’d read. Had great views through binoculars even though I was looking towards the city & through a haze of pollution. Once I knew where to look I could just make it out with the naked eye. It would be really spectacular in a dark sky!

By: DaveG

DaveG — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:10:47 +0000

Thanks for the heads up Phil! Wouldn’t of thought to look for it during the day, but after reading your post took the scope out and found it within 30 seconds!

This is from an 8″ with a digital camera held up to the eyepiece, just like with your webcam: http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/161/img0349vi9.jpg

By: The Bad Astronomer

The Bad Astronomer — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 07:33:25 +0000

Ernest– I couldn’t find a period anywhere for it. I should have checked the eccentricity! You’re right, it’s >1, which means this guy may be of here.

Lorne Ipsum, I just ordered a USB mike.

By: PsyberDave

PsyberDave — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 07:06:53 +0000

After attempting to find Comet McNaught on four evenings, I finally spotted it tonight.

Here’s a picture I took of it. http://www.scoremax.com/images/CometMcNaught.jpg

By: Joseph

Joseph — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 05:20:47 +0000

Hi Phil,

Yep great video blog entry. I’ve just spent the last couple of hours outside observing McNaught (in Auckland, New Zealand). Wow, it is indeed visible during full daylight hours. First found it at around 1500hrs NZT, after 3 attempts foiled by patchy cloud cover. Have had about a hour of great visibility. Was a bit of a challenge to locate with my scope (117mm reflector, cheapie) with eventually stumbled across it. Very cool indeed.

Cheers,
Joseph

Oh this page is a great help to southern hemisphere viewers.
http://msowww.anu.edu.au/%7Ermn/C2006P1.htm

By: Ernest

Ernest — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 04:35:35 +0000

Hi,

In the video you mention that it will be a few years before the comet comes around again, but I checked a NASA site for the orbital elements and the eccentricity was greater than 1 (not by much though). I got my info from here:

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?name=c/2006+P1

Is the information inaccurate or am I just misinterpreting it?
Thanks