[F_minor] OT: Look to the skies!

["Robert Merkin" <bobmerk@earthlink.net>]

Clear skies permitting, you might be able for the next few days, as it returns from the Sun, to see the brightest comet of the last 40 years, McNaught / C/2006 P1, in the half-hour after sunset or the half-hour before dawn. (Robert McNaught's the Anglo-Australian professional astronomer who first spotted it in August, so he gets it named for him.) 
Every comet has one last unpredictable secret -- how bright it will really be, how visible to the naked eye -- and McNaught was a surprise winner. Don't bother with fancy telescopes -- binoculars will be more useful.
>From Wikipedia:
The comet will remain visible to Southern Hemisphere observers in both the morning and evening sky, entering the constellation Microscopium on 18 January, but fading rapidly and dropping below 6th magnitude by 09 Feb. However, observers are encouraged to watch closely, as sungrazing comets often break up shortly after perihelion and flare dramatically.
Best details and fotos: http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~rmn/C2006P1.htm
Bob Merkin
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