A Comet Through The Smog...

Just before sunrise this morning, I made my way up to Church Hill to see if I could spot Comet Nishimura. However, the recent heatwave and associated atmospheric conditions had combined to form an absolutely horrendous cloud of air pollution that hung over the Medway valley in the form of a brown haze that you could actually taste.

The smog pretty much put paid to any chance of seeing or photographing the comet, although the sight of the crescent moon and crescent Venus rising over the Medway bridge made the early morning start worthwhile.

A red haze of pollution hangs over the Medway Valley...

Although difficult to see, I think the tiny comet and its tail is just about visible above the trees and to the left of Venus in the picture above, but it really is pretty much wiped out by the haze. 

World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines state that with regards to airborne micro-particulates (called PM 2.5s), 24-hour average exposures should not exceed 15 µg/m3 more than 3 - 4 days per year.

Data from the nearest working national atmospheric pollution monitoring station at Stoke (the one on Chatham Hill being mysteriously out of action this past week) show that PM 2.5s have been consistently well above the above WHO safe limits for the past week. For much of today, PM 2.5s were over four times that level!

Data from Stoke AMS, 4th to 11th September...

Polluted sunrise as seen from Church Hill. The M2 viaducts can hardly be seen...

Air pollution does at least make for some "atmospheric" sunrises... 

St. Michaels through the polluted Bakers Field sunrise air on Church Hill...