“McNaught” Sweeps Across Southern Skies!
posted in Amazing Facts, Latest News, Outer Space |
Usually there is no worry of getting blind when looking at comets passing close to Earth. But according to astronomers that can happen if people are not careful when they look at the sky to get a glimpse of “comet McNaught”.
The comet was visible in the Southern Hemisphere near the horizon from dawn to dusk. It passed very close to the sun, so many of the observers are being cautioned not to look directly at the rising or setting of the star.
This fiery apparition that was seen in the morning through a gap in the clouds above Christchurch, New Zealand is claimed to be the brightest comet seen in 40 years. Because of this, the officials trained the crowds to look at the comet in a safe way.
The Australian astronomer Robert McNaught had seen the comet last August through a telescope at Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. This celestial body’s orbit was close to the sun and thus became visible to the eye in the northern hemisphere.
McNaught has had the nearest brush with the sun and became visible only to Southern Hemisphere sky-watchers. This comet is right now, 6.2-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) comet and is around 74.5 million miles (120 million kilometers) away from Earth and is traveling at around 62 miles (100 kilometers) a second. This once-in-a-lifetime view will be available for a few more days.