Comet Machholz

Not in Pittsburgh it ain't :-( :-( :-(

Terrible night up here in my corner of the Great White North as well.

But I have been tracking Machholz on good evenings for the last month or so. It was quite good with a pair of binoculars a few nights ago--I imagine it would be spectacular through a 4-6" telescope.

I forced by wife to brave the cold the other evening to look at the sky through the binoculars, with particular attention to Machholz. She also said "what's that bright cluster of 7 stars--they're really pretty". "That's the Pleides, dear" I replied. She thanked me profusely for forcing her to brave the cold.

I hope the sky clears tommorow evening. I think that a comet near the Pleiedes would be quite a sight indeed.

Here, it was clear, dark and about 55* last night. Verna wouldn't let me move the scope off of the Pleiades for half an hour, they were exceptionally bright. Then we had to pass through the Orion nebula on our way to Saturn. I told her we were going way afield from the intended target, of the comet. (Verna is a comet atheist since she was severely disappointed in Halley's.)

Anyway, we finally made it back to the comet which was right next to where we started, about an hour after going out. It is indeed a little fuzz ball, not much tail but because of the clarity of the night, it was very satisfying. I managed to spot it with my naked eye, not bad for a 48 year old, still 20/20. ; )

Of course Aldeberan, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Sirius and all the other winter stars were spectacular too.

Randy

Raining hard in socal.

Nothin' but fog and haze in Chicago the past several days...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!