Comet Machholz, TV76, 11/12/2004

Date: Night of Friday, 12-Nov-2004
Location: Backyard, Palm Springs, California
Equipment: Tele Vue 76 (3" f/6.3) refractor, Nikon 10x42 SE binoculars

Went out in the backyard about 1am to look for comet C/2004 Q2 Machholz=20
for the first time. A bit of high clouds made this a less than ideal=20
night. But the comet was easy to spot south of Orion and Lepus way down=20
in Columba. Quite a bit larger and easier to see than M79 to the north.=20
With the clouds and suburban skyglow no real detail or tail was visible. =

Comet was easily seen in 10x42 binoculars as well. By January the comet=20
will be in Taurus and 3 mags brighter! Passing very near the Pleadies on =

Jan 6th.


-Florian
Stargazing.com

"Florian" wrote in message . ..
Date: Night of Friday, 12-Nov-2004
Location: Backyard, Palm Springs, California
Equipment: Tele Vue 76 (3" f/6.3) refractor, Nikon 10x42 SE binoculars



Thanks for the heads up ! Could be a very nice show .
All the best , Leonard

Went out in the backyard about 1am to look for comet C/2004 Q2 Machholz
for the first time. A bit of high clouds made this a less than ideal
night. But the comet was easy to spot south of Orion and Lepus way down
in Columba. Quite a bit larger and easier to see than M79 to the north.
With the clouds and suburban skyglow no real detail or tail was visible.

Comet was easily seen in 10x42 binoculars as well. By January the comet
will be in Taurus and 3 mags brighter! Passing very near the Pleadies on

Jan 6th.


-Florian
Stargazing.com

Went out in the backyard with the TV76 around 1am after working night =
shift. Better conditions than the high drifting clouds on Friday night. =
Comet Machholz quite bright and easy to find. No tail visible from my =
suburban-like skies but i suspect more detail would be visible from a =
darksky site. Since i was in Columba i visited globular cluster NGC =
1851. Compact and bright. Noticeably brighter than M79 in Lepus.

-Florian
Palm Springs, Calif.