Comet McNaught Transits SOHO

This is simply extraordinary . . . We’re in awe.

Brightest Comet in Over Forty Years

Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1) has not only become the brightest comet SOHO has ever seen, but even the brightest comet observed in over forty years! The comet swung by the sun on Jan 12th – 15th, and is now emerging into the skies of the southern hemisphere. During its close encounter with our mother star, comet McNaught became a naked-eye object in broad daylight. It was discovered on August 7th, 2006 by the hugely successful comet discoverer Rob McNaught (Siding Spring Survey). At time of discovery, the comet was a very faint object, but the predicted perihelion distance (closest distance to the sun) of just 0.17 AU indicated already that the object had the potential to become very bright.

As you are probably aware, the LASCO instrument on-board SOHO has the ability to watch comets as they get extremely close to the Sun. Fortunately for us, comet McNaught has passed right through the LASCO C3 field of view! We do not know exactly the peak brightness of the comet yet, but it is definitely brighter than -3 mag! It is thus much brighter than comet NEAT or comet 96P/Machholz. In other words, comet McNaught is by far the brightest and most spectacular comet SOHO has ever seen!