Australian astronomer Rob McNaught was looking for something much darker and deadlier when he found the dazzling comet that now bears his name. "I was looking for NEOs or near earth objects," he says, "asteroids and defunct comets that have orbits that cross ours and could therefore one day collide with our planet and cause massive destruction." The patrol is regarded by McNaught and his colleague Gordon Garradd as far more important than a spectacle intriguing the millions of people who have seen Comet McNaught.

--Ben Sandilands, New Zealand Herald, 20 January 2007