Comet visible to Early Risers.

March 6, 2006, up in Outer Space
Copyright 2005 BigValleyNews.net

For those of you who are up early (before dawn) and if we are lucky enough to see the Eastern Horizon, be sure to look for the new comet just becoming visible to the naked eye. There is a trick to finding the comet. Look at the skymap below, find Venus (the real bright "star") . The comet is to the left of Venus and slightly higher. The trick is to NOT LOOK directly where you expect to see the comet, but off to the side. The comet is fuzzy and not a bright spot and your eye is much more sensitive to light

away from your central vision where you see things in detail. The comet is dim and it's tail is several times larger than the full moon, that is, it's not a tiny bright thing but a faint fuzzy large thing.  You may find that you can't find the comet if you try to look directly where it should be but it will suddenly pop into vision when you look to the side. Once you know exactly what to look for, you will be able to see it by looking directly at it.

Good Luck sky observers.  Our remote dark skys are ideal for comet spotting.

For more information see the Astronomy Picture of the Day
or
SpaceWeather.com