Comet McNaught in the sky before dawn. This comet, also known as C/2006 P1, was the brightest to appear in the sky since Ikeya-Seki in 1965. It was vi

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Comet McNaught in the sky before dawn. This comet, also known as C/2006 P1, was the brightest to appear in the sky since Ikeya-Seki in 1965. It was visible in the Northern Hemisphere until 13th January 2007, when it passed the Sun and became a Southern Hemisphere object. It attained a maximum brightness of magnitude -6 around 14th January. The tail is formed of particles of ice and dust expelled by the comet as it was heated by the Sun. The comet was discovered by Rob McNaught of Siding Spring Observatory on 7th August 2006. Photographed from New South Wales, Australia, at 17:52 GMT on 29th January 2007.

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Size: 4368px × 2912px
Photo credit: © ROBERT MCNAUGHT/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: /2006, 2007, 21st, 29/01/2007, 29th, astronomical, astronomy, australia, australian, brightest, century, comet, cometary, comets, dawn, dust, hemisphere, january, mcnaught, morning, night, observatory, p1, pre-dawn, rob, siding, sky, solar, southern, space, spring, system, tail, wind