Comet McNaught brighter than expected in June 2010

June 10, 2010
Astronomy Examiner
Paul A. Heckert

Comet McNaught (C/2009 R1) is one of 54 comets discovered by Robert McNaught at Australia's Siding Spring Observatory while conducting a NASA funded search for potentially dangerous near Earth objects. This particular comet, discovered in September 2009, will not come close enough to Earth to present even a potential hazard.

Comet McNaught will however be visible to northern hemisphere observers just before dawn during June 2010. The original brightness predictions suggested that Comet McNaught would be visible only with binoculars or a small telescope.

Recently Comet McNaught has unexpectedly brightened so that it is visible to the naked eye from dark skies. Through June 2010, Comet McNaught will probably continue to brighten in the predawn skies.

Predicting how bright comets will get is notoriously difficult, and comets often defy astronomers' predictions. Because this is Comet McNaught's first orbit close to the Sun from the Oort comet cloud, the predictions are even more difficult than usual. Stargazers will need to get up before dawn to see how bright Comet McNaught becomes. the rest
image-Michael Jäger

Comet in the June Dawn