Comet McNaught (C/2006 P1)

Discovered by:        Robert H. McNaught
Discovery date:       August 7, 2006
Also known as:       The Great Comet of 2007
Peak magnitude:     -5.5

Aphelion:                 4100 AU (613 billion kilometres or 381 billion miles)
Perihelion:               0.17075 AU (25.54 million kilometres or 15.87 million miles)
Semi-major axis:      2050 AU (307 billion kilometres or 191 billion miles)
Eccentricity:            1.000019
Orbital period:          92,600 years
Inclination:               77.8 degrees

Last perihelion:         January 12, 2007
Next perihelion:        unknown

Comet P1 McNaught taken from Swifts Creek, Victoria, Australia on January 24, 2007

Comet McNaught is also known as the Great Comet of 2007

Discovered on August 7, 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope as part of the Siding Spring Survey (Near-Earth Object search program).

Magnitude at discovery was a dim +17.

During January and February 2007 it was easily visible to the naked eye for Southern Hemisphere based observers.

Reached perihelion on January 12, 2007 when 0.17 AU (25.5 million kilometres or 15.9 million miles) from the Sun and visible in broad daylight.

Observed by the space-based Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

Comet sported a brilliant fan-shaped that measured 35 degrees.

It was the brightest comet since Ikeya-Seki in 1965. Peaked at magnitude -5.5 just after perihelion.

Perigee (closest approach to the Earth) was January 15, 2007, at a distance of 0.82 AU (122.7 million kilometres or 76.2 million miles).

On February 3, 2007 the Ulysses spacecraft made an unexpected pass through the comets ion tail. The probe was located 258 million kilometers (160 million miles) from the comets nucleus. Analysis of the resulting data showed a complex chemistry included the detection of O3+ oxygen ions near to a comet for the first time.

During its passage through the Solar System, McNaught followed a hyperbolic trajectory (eccentricity greater than 1). Normally with such an orbit the comet would leave the Solar System and never return, but due to gravitational influence of the planets the eccentricity is now believed to be below 1 and McNaught will eventually return.

Estimated to return in approx. 92,600 years time.