[a href="vny!://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=vn20070115130459456C470817"]Comet set for spectacular show[/a]
[span style="color: rgb(116, 116, 116);"] January 15 2007 at 01:24PM[/span]
[span class="articletext"] If you are one of those comet-watchers desperately disappointed by the total flop of Halley's Comet in 1986, make sure you get out early on Monday evening and every night until at least Friday to watch Comet McNaught, which is promising much better viewing.
Comet McNaught, named after the Australian astronomer R H McNaught, who discovered it in 2006, will be visible low on the western horizon just after sunset from Monday evening for about a week, although tonight's viewing should be the best.
Each night's show should last about half-an-hour, and it could be spectacular - although this is not guaranteed, as the Halley fizzle proved.
[/span][!--pull quote --][!--pull quote end --][span class="articletext"]Local astronomer Case Rijsdijk said the comet would be visible for about half-an-hour each evening, as it as very close to the Sun.
He suggested comet-watchers head for venues such as Signal Hill, which offer uninterrupted views of the western horizon.
McNaught is reported to be the brightest comet visible from Earth in 30 years.
Reports from the northern hemisphere were that it had sparkled its way across the northern skies last week.
"It could emerge as the brightest comet in recorded history," Nasa astronomer Tony Phillips said.
McNaught will look like an elongated cloud, pointing upwards and to the left.
Each evening it will appear a little further to the south.
Comets, sometimes called "dirty snowballs" or "icy mudballs", are a mixture of water ice, frozen gases and dust particles that were not incorporated into planets when the solar system was formed.
Astronomers are particularly interested in them because of the evidence they contain of the early history of the solar system.[/span]
