Twilight will be a magical time this week as a new comet is expected to arrive and dazzle South African star gazers.
Reported to be the brightest comet visible from Earth in the past 30 years, Comet McNaught sparkled its way across the northern hemisphere last week.
”It will remain a spectacular comet for weeks, perhaps months, in the southern hemisphere,” Nasa astronomer Tony Phillips told The Associated Press. ”It could emerge as the brightest comet in recorded history.”
Dr Claire Flanagan, director of the Johannesburg Planetarium, said Southern African sky watchers should get a glimpse of Comet McNaught from Monday. The long, cloud-shaped formation will be visible in the early-evening sky for at least a week.
”To see the comet, all you need is a clear view to the west. Go out and start looking as the sun sets. The comet will look like an elongated cloud pointing upwards and to the left.
”About an hour after sunset, the comet will have disappeared below the horizon, but it will reappear the next evening, a little further to the left [south].”
McNaught will be very low, just above the horizon to the south-west. It will get fainter and a little higher as the week goes by, said Flanagan.
A comet is a lump of ice that orbits the sun, and it can develop a tail millions of kilometres long made of ice, gas and dust. This comet was discovered by Australian astronomer RH McNaught in 2006, reports said. — Sapa