Comet excitement

Wow! I got to see a real comet. I mean, I saw Halley's in 1984, but it was a pipsqueak compared to McNaught. It appeared in a miraculously clear patch of sky in the south west above the hills of Wellington at about 9.45pm on 19th January, and it actually looked like a comet, with a real tail and everything. Initially, watchers thought it was moving fast across the sky, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't moving - the clouds were being particularly vigorous in creating the illusion of movement on the comet's part.

One cool aspect of the experience was that I was with my sister, who lives in England and with whom I'd been to Te Papa (NZ's national museum) and dinner, so it was a special thing to do together. The comet was bright enough to see with the naked eye (through the pinhole of my clenched fist in my case, as I forgot my glasses) before there were an appreciable number of stars out, and despite the city lights reflecting off the clouds.

I hope to see it again tonight; possibly not so bright, as "they" said last night would be the best night to view it, but I'm thinking the cloud cover is not really clearing. It looked promising this afternoon, but things have taken a turn for the worse, weather-wise.