I saw Comet McNaught under quite unusual circumstances tonight. I had
tried for it from the roof of an apartment building in Brooklyn, New
York two nights ago, but clouds were a problem. They got worse
yesterday, and it rained last night, with snow expected for tomorrow--
it was rainy this morning, so I didn't hold out much hope of
glimpsing the comet. My brother spent this morning in surgery, in
Kingston, New York to have an aneurysm in his neck repaired. Shortly
after noon, I got a call that he was out of surgery and it had gone
well, so I drove over to the hospital. Almost as an afterthought, I
brought my 7x50 binoculars (maybe I could sneak out after I saw him
for a look, if I could find a place with a decent horizon); the sky
was still murky, but there was a small patch of clearing. By the time
I got to Kingston, there was a mix of sun and clouds. When I reached
the hospital around 3 p.m., my brother was still undergoing tests,
and I was told I could wait in the room that would soon be his. To my
surprise his room faced the sunset, with a fairly unobstructed
horizon, so I went down to the car and retrieved my binoculars, went
back up and waited with my brother's best friend for his arrival. At
around 4:30 they wheeled his bed in; he had come through the
operation very well, better than expected. Starting at around 4:45 I
started scanning the sunset sky; there was some cloud, but also a
clear belt down to the horizon (though I couldn't see Venus). For a
while a nurse took data for his chart, blocking my access to the
window. When she finally moved, it was about 5:15. I saw Venus,
partly immersed in some clouds, then was able to figure where the
comet would be—in a zone where it was mostly cloud. Finally I picked
up the comet through thin cloud, hanging just above a thicker
cloudbank. It looked orange-white (likely due to its low altitude)
and condensed, though fuzzy. I thought there was a hint of tail, but
with the cloudiness around it, it was hard to tell. Just based on its
appearance, I would have guessed that its magnitude was closer to 0
than the -2 that I've been hearing, but with the clouds and lack of
comparison stars it was impossible to make a real estimate. So I have
two things to be thankful for tonight--my brother's successful
operation, and my first (and perhaps only) glimpse of this major
comet.

--Tony