In search of a comet

It will come as no surprise to people that know me that I'm a little bit on the geeky side. So, when I found out that the brightest comet in over 40 years was clearly visible to the naked eye, I thought "this is something I've got to see...". The comet in question is the McNaught Comet.

I live very near Tuggeranong Hill, which I had heard afforded fantastic views of the surrounding area. While called a hill, it is technically a mountain so I figured I was pretty safe. If I could scale the fire trail that leads to the top of the Hill, I reckoned I could get a pretty good view of this streaming ball of cosmic ice.

The journey would be difficult for two reasons:

1. the comet was best seen at dusk, which is also not long after we normally put Elijah to sleep; and
2. being up the top of the hill at dusk would mean walking back down a fire trail in the dark, because, in hindsight, I have no brain and it never occurred to me to take a torch.

Elijah went to sleep quite easily in the end and I left for the hill, imaginary leave pass from my wife imaginarily clutched in my sweaty little hand. Now, I'm not unfit, but I'm definitely not fit either and the 20 minute walk up the hill was hard work. It was made harder by the fact that the fire trail is not the most stable of surfaces and was showing signs of erosion after the hard core storms that swept through the area over Christmas/New Year. Still, there was plenty of light although the sun was setting and I reached the top without incident.

I have always wanted to climb up to the top of Tuggeranong Hill and the view from the east did not disappoint.


I quite liked the view to the south as well.


The view to the west (where, apparently, the comet would reveal itself) was none too shabby either.


Since I had some time, I also checked out the TV broadcast signal repeater (appropriately adorned with a cheesy slogan - considering it's a hell of a walk, some people really are dedicated to their vandalism)...


... and then there was some sort of doodad dealy up there too (I have nfc what this is at all, but you can see the broadcast repeater tower in the background).


The sad thing about all this is, I waited for over an hour in the rising breeze, getting colder and colder as I regretted climbing a small mountain in t-shirt and shorts and shoes without socks. I got cold, it got increasingly dark and in the end, I had to head home disappointed, lest I break my neck on the descent.

Sometimes geekiness has a price that must be paid, a toll that must be extracted.

No comet for me.

Go here for a photo on Wikipedia of what the comet would have looked like in Canberra if I had been able to actually spot in the dusky sky.

Edit 1/2/07 21:57 to remove an orphan link. Oops.