Comet McNaught, One of the Eight Brightest Comets

Last week, observers watched probably the most amazing comet show of their time. This comet was so brilliant that it could be seen with the naked eye. Comet McNaught evolved into a brilliant object when it flew past the sun at a distance of 15.9 million miles. It reached its peak in brightness on January 14 at 7:oo A.M. It ranked a -5.1 in brightness (larger numbers are dimmer objects, while extremely bright stars are an 0-1 magnitude). Even though Comet McNaught was brighter than Venus, this type of event has occured seven other times. The Comet Perihelion, for example, was bright as -7 magnitude and had six tails. In 1843, there was a comet that lost its brightness as it moved away from the sun, but its tail grew tremendously. Eventually, the tail was so big, that if you placed the head of the comet in the Sun's place, the tail would have gone past Mars. The greatest comet show, though, was in the September of 1882. Considered the "Super Comet", it reached a magnitude between -15 and -20. Back to now... people in the Southern Hemisphere will be able view this comet in the days ahead. As the comet moves away from the Sun, it slowly fades away, but its tail is lengthening, which now can be seen from Colorado. Comet McNaught is definitely a comet to remember.
This article made me feel awed at how amazing comets can be. After all, a tail that reaches beyond Mars and a comet so bright it can be seen with the naked eye is pretty amazing. I feel sorry that I missed such a great sight.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16710667/