Reports from Geisei Observatory <September 20, 2012>

260P/McNaught approaching perihelion

    Comet McNaught, which has recently been assigned the permanent number designation 260P, is now brightly visible. At midnight it rises right to the zenith and displays a magnificent broad tail at PA 225. It can be observed visually. This photograph was taken at 1 am on September 20. The sky was clear but transparency was somewhat low.
    In the morning Sirius began rising. I was intensely watching the direction where a Kreutz group comet had appeared on September 19, 47 years ago. It looked lower than I had thought.

    An image of me in those days crossed my mind and faded out, speeding on a bicycle to the telegraph office through a morning fog...