just had my first view of comet NEAT a few hours after getting in to Los Angeles. It's certainly a lot higher in the sky from here but there is a bit of light pollution obviously so I cannot make an accurate brightness measurement of the comet -- all the same, I thought it was just a tiny bit brighter than gamma Cancri. Hard to estimate it too with trying to swat bugs at the same time!
hope to post the odd astronomy-related mail while on the road.
forgot to add . . . hint of the tail stretching the whole way to gamma Cnc. Very diffuse coma as well.
thanks for the best wishes also . . . John O'Neill is coming over next weekend. Hope to get a bit in the next Arcturus about the astro scene here. Shannonside (in Limerick) actually have the vice-President of San Diego Amateur Astronomers giving a talk in early June on astronomy in California.
