Comet McNaught on May 15, 2010 Credit: Michael Jager via aerith.net

There is a viewable comet out there as I mentioned yesterday.  It is named C/2009 R1 (McNaught) or as I called it here plain Comet McNaught.  For the sticklers out there I know there is more than one with the same “name” but for here and now I am referring to C/2009 R1.

I did mention Seiichi Yoshida had this at a mag. 5.5 and you might wonder why you would need a pair of binoculars (at least) and dark skies.  I have found the magnitude of a comet is about 2 magnitudes higher than an equivalent star.  So if they talk about a 5.5 magnitude comet, that would equate to a 7.5 star.  Could be it owes to the diffuse nature of a comet and this is just my observation.

So this is nice looking green colored comet (not sure why), located off the end of Pegasus.  The comet rises in the northeastern sky at about 01:00 AM your local time and I hate to tell you this but I think the best time to see it is going to be about 03:30 AM.  What really rots for me is I might not get a great look at it due to the mountains and a nearby Maple tree.   The comet isn’t all that far from the Sun so by the time it gets high enough for me daylight might be breaking.  So you know it’s not going to be real high in the sky anyways.

My saving grace is going to be putting my little scope in the car and go to a spot west of here to get a better look in that direction.   I also have to beat the clouds.

This comet is going to be around for a little bit and it could be a naked eye object pretty soon, I will let you know

Here is a finders chart for 0330 AM.  This should be valid for your local time zone.  You can see the Great Square of Pegasus on the right, and the comet to the left of it.  Find M34 and you will have find the comet.