Last night I observed comet McNaught from about 6:00 pm to 6:15 pm through light cloud cover. It was not visible to the unaided eye due to the clouds. A light but steady wind vibrated the telescope, so the best view was actually through binoculars. The nucleus and tail were both clearly visible. It was a beautiful thing to see; the orange glow of the sunset and the gray streaks of clouds provided an otherworldly setting.

Amanda, Roy, and I met on the top of a parking garage — we had to be up high to see the horizon over the trees. A guy named Toby also came out after hearing about the comet from a friend. The weather was chilly but not uncomfortably cold. Amanda was the first to spot the comet in the binoculars, a fact that she won’t soon let me forget!

The telescope was my 75mm Bushnell. The Hepcat Observatory forecasted poor seeing conditions, and when I used Venus to focus it seemed to swim with multiple images. The image of the comet was hazy even in brief periods of no wind, as much from the clouds I suspect as from atmospheric turbulence.

The new Bushnell 12×50’s performed much better than my old cheap binoculars. Better optics, better collimation.

Local weather forecasts call for heavy cloud cover the next several nights, so no more McNaught for me. Glad I took the opportunity to see it last night!