Got it! My flight from Seattle to Houston was delayed
2 hours, which was better, because I was able to, at
37,000 feet over the Texas Panhandle, spot C/2006 P1
McNaught naked eye and show it to a seat-mate who
graciously allowed me to trade seats with him for the
occasion. We were skimming the tops of cirrostratus,
which, moments before, engulfed the entire plane,
making it appear hopeless for a while. Then we broke
thru into a clear area, and finding Venus, I scanned
the horizon visually for signs of the comet...

...it popped out, first as a streak, then the head
appeared, looking as bright, once I got a fix on it,
as Mercury during the early part of the evening
apparition (m= -1.8 for Mercury). After a few seconds,
the comet took on the form, though miniature, of what
had been circulating on the Internet in recent days. I
traced the tail about 30' and the entire thing was
yellow-white and about 1 degree above the horizontal
(at that elevation, the clear horizon is about -3
deg., but clouds obscured that...). My seatmate looked
at it, then it disappeared into the cloud, not to be
seen again that evening.

It looked just like a little, brilliant comet...

Hilarious in Houston...Brian

P.S. did I mention I got the flight attendants, the
captain, and several additional passengers excited
over this? Unfortunately by the time these people
looked, it was in the clouds...

--- Bob King <nightsky55@...> wrote:

> Hi Martin,
> Yes, we're all going wild with it here, too. One
> reason I like drawings --
> and yours were a good example -- is that they convey
> an impression. It's not
> only what the comet looked like but how you
> translated the observations and
> might I say, satisfaction, from your eyes to paper.
> Thanks again,
> Bob
> PS. By the way, what is your medium and pencil type?
>
> On 1/10/07, martin mc kenna
> <martinastro2003@...> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks very much Bob.
> >
> > So many people here in the UK have been taking
> wonderful observations and
> > images of this comet. It really pleases me to hear
> amateur astronomers,
> > photographers, weather watchers and members of the
> public bubbling with
> > excitement over this wonderful comet. I know of
> one guy who crashed his car
> > into a kerb (no damage) when he saw the comet with
> the naked eye through his
> > windscreen while driving. I wonder if and when the
> local media will catch on
> > to this comet?
> >
> > All best
> >
> > Martin
> >
> > Bob King <nightsky55@...
> <nightsky55%40gmail.com>> wrote:
> > Hi Martin,
> > These are really nice. Thank you for sharing them.
> > Bob
> >
> > On 1/10/07, martin mc kenna
>
<martinastro2003@...<martinastro2003%40yahoo.com>>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Here are a few quick sketches I made of comet Mc
> Naught...
> > >
> > > Binocular view (Jan 9th)
> > >
> > > http://www.nightskyhunter.com/comet%2045-45.html
> > >
> > > Telescopic view (Jan 9th)
> > >
> > > http://www.nightskyhunter.com/comet%2044-44.html
> > >
> > > Naked eye view (Jan 10th)
> > >
> > > http://www.nightskyhunter.com/comet%2046-46.html
> > >
> > > Martin Mc kenna
> > > N. Ireland
> > >
> > > http://www.nightskyhunter.com/
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------
> > > Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail
> beta.
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
> >
> > http://www.nightskyhunter.com/
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail
> beta.
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
> >
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>