Which comet is visible at the moment?

Can you tell us about the comet which is supposedly visible with the naked eye at the moment? - Question posed by Charlene

"Comet McNaught" is a label given to more than fifty comets discovered by British-Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught. The label most often* refers to a comet designated C/2006 P1, and colloquially also known as the Great Comet of 2007. It's recent usage, however, refers to the object currently visible in the night sky between the constellations Auriga and Gemini, designated C/2009 R1.

Copyright Michael Jager (17^th June 2010)

Visibility

From around 8^th June, Comet McNaught has been visible in clear, dark skies with the naked eye, growing brighter until the end of June, although it will get closer to the Sun as well and therefore harder to see - the best viewing from now until it leaves us will be in the late evening very close to the horizon in a North/ North-Easterly direction.

Past

Comet McNaught C/2009 R1 was discovered by McNaught on 9^th September 2009 using the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring observatory in New South Wales, Australia.

Future

The comet is non-periodic and believed to be single-apparition, which means that it will pass through the inner solar system only once, and then leave forever.

* Arguably