Comet Machholz et al, TV76, 1/14/2005

Very nice report! The sky isn't very good tonight, but tomorrow night the
Clear Sky clock says it'll be great. I really want to take out my TV-85 and
have a look while it's still relatively bright. Only thing is, I'm in
Wisconsin vs. Palm Springs, CA and it's supposed to be -3 degrees F tomorrow
night. Maybe I'll take a QUICK look :-)

-Astrosetz
www.astrosetz.com
www.ncsf.info

"Florian" wrote in message
...
Date: Night of Friday, 14-Jan-2005
Location: Backyard, Palm Springs, California
Equipment: Tele Vue 76 (3" f/6.3) refractor

Backyard stargazing with the TV76. First object was comet Machholz. Easy
naked eye object. Through the 3" can just detect the ion tail. Would be
much better from a darksky site. Rechecking after an hour or so movement
was apparent. (I love stuff that moves!) Spent some time just sort of
randomly wandering around the sky. Open cluster NGC 1342, Melotte 20 (best
in binoculars), M34, M42/M43 region, M78, Orion's belt region, NGC 2238
Rosette neb can just detect a bit of nebulosity. To the south NGC 2362
Tau Canis Major, M93, M46 and M47, NGC 2451 and NGC 2477. Quick peek at
Saturn and its moon Titan where the Huygens probe landed yesterday.

-Florian
Stargazing.com

I had a look last night with my TV76 with a 13mm Nagler in it...gorgeous view,
but I didn't see any tail. I need a lower power ep to make this work. Still
waiting for the 36mm Burgess widefield ep to show up in my local place. Maybe
I'll get lucky today.

Mark
The Catman
^..^

www.geocities.com/mark_rosengarten
Owner/Coordinator of the Neko Ultraportable Solar Observatory
Fun WITH The Sun for Everyone!