Machholz and single malt

Last night was a rare one here in NE TN -- skies were clear, cold, and
steady, 24 deg, light wind -- stars were not twinkling at all. As the moon
slid down to the west, I pulled out my XT-8, found Rigel, and swept to the
west and -- jackpot -- there was comet Machholz -- a fuzzy blob, no
discernible tail but the head was clearly bright and dense. As I looked
longer and longer I determined that the fuzzy part did extend farther in one
direction than the other. Comet looked good at three mags -- 38X (32mm TV
Plossl), 67X (18mm Meade SWA), and 171X (7mm Nagler).

Moved over to Orion, put in a nebula filter and spent 15 minutes staring at
M48 -- very nice.

Switched to my cheapie 40mm 2-inch EP and checked out Pleiades -- sparkling.

Hauled everything back into the garage and headed inside for two fingers of
17-year-old Lahproaig.

Hope to repeat tonight -- except I'll close out the evening with two fingers
of Dalwhinnie.

--

-----
Joe S.

"Joe S." wrote in message ...
Last night was a rare one here in NE TN -- skies were clear, cold, and
steady, 24 deg, light wind -- stars were not twinkling at all. As the moon
slid down to the west, I pulled out my XT-8, found Rigel, and swept to the
west and -- jackpot -- there was comet Machholz -- a fuzzy blob, no
discernible tail but the head was clearly bright and dense. As I looked
longer and longer I determined that the fuzzy part did extend farther in one
direction than the other. Comet looked good at three mags -- 38X (32mm TV
Plossl), 67X (18mm Meade SWA), and 171X (7mm Nagler).

Moved over to Orion, put in a nebula filter and spent 15 minutes staring at
M48 -- very nice.

Switched to my cheapie 40mm 2-inch EP and checked out Pleiades -- sparkling.

Hauled everything back into the garage and headed inside for two fingers of
17-year-old Lahproaig.

Hope to repeat tonight -- except I'll close out the evening with two fingers
of Dalwhinnie.

nice! although I prefer the Dalwhinnie in the summer and a Lagavulin on cold nights, (and
Highland Park after dinner) :-)
--
md

nice! although I prefer the Dalwhinnie in the summer and a Lagavulin on
cold nights, (and
Highland Park after dinner) :-)

Seems you Americans have sensible habits after all! ;o)
Caught the Comet tonight in combination with a real Irish Coffee, based on
Jameson whisky (I would'nt waste fine single malt lika Laphroig on a coffee
drink ...
/Stefan, Sweden,

"Stefan Ahlgren" wrote in message
...
nice! although I prefer the Dalwhinnie in the summer and a Lagavulin on
cold nights, (and
Highland Park after dinner) :-)

Seems you Americans have sensible habits after all! ;o)

oh, I am not american. I am dutch

:-)
--
md

Well, I'm American and I was also looking at the comet last night in my
XT6 and TV85. And afterwards I had a nice glass of a 30 year old
single malt called The Dalmore. A perfect evening.

Clyde

It's an observation that has been growing for well over 15
years......why is it that (in my experience) far more amateur
astronomers than statistics would support prefer as their adult beverage
some of the top level singlemalts?

Wayne Howell
Photon Phlats Observatory
Port Townsend, WA

I'm a single malt scotch lover myself, but a more interesting and revealing
question is what is the worst whiskey you've ever drunk?

"Joe S." wrote in message
...
Last night was a rare one here in NE TN -- skies were clear, cold, and
steady, 24 deg, light wind -- stars were not twinkling at all. As the
moon
slid down to the west, I pulled out my XT-8, found Rigel, and swept to the
west and -- jackpot -- there was comet Machholz -- a fuzzy blob, no
discernible tail but the head was clearly bright and dense. As I looked
longer and longer I determined that the fuzzy part did extend farther in
one
direction than the other. Comet looked good at three mags -- 38X (32mm TV
Plossl), 67X (18mm Meade SWA), and 171X (7mm Nagler).

Moved over to Orion, put in a nebula filter and spent 15 minutes staring
at
M48 -- very nice.

Switched to my cheapie 40mm 2-inch EP and checked out Pleiades --
sparkling.

Hauled everything back into the garage and headed inside for two fingers
of
17-year-old Lahproaig.

Hope to repeat tonight -- except I'll close out the evening with two
fingers
of Dalwhinnie.

--

-----
Joe S.

"Chuck" wrote in message
...
I'm a single malt scotch lover myself, but a more interesting and revealing
question is what is the worst whiskey you've ever drunk?

johnny walker red label for example.
--
md

Well, when I was 16 years old, some good ol' boys treated me to a swig of
"Old Mohegan" 100 proof bourbon. Made your whole body flinch to take a
swallow. The label should have been warning enough. It had a picture of
an Mohegan native american in silohuette with the following caption: "When
this eye blinks you've had enough" ... Thank God our taste and
judgement gets better as we get older. It's one of the few benefits ...

Chuck


"md" not given to avoid spam wrote in message
...

"Chuck" wrote in message
...
I'm a single malt scotch lover myself, but a more interesting and
revealing
question is what is the worst whiskey you've ever drunk?

johnny walker red label for example.
--
md

Chuck was asking
what is the worst whiskey you've ever
drunk?

Can't say for sure, but the worst WINE I've ever drunk was "Night
Train." Tasted like kerosene mixed with light machine oil.
Marty