Observing Report: Comet Machholz, Others in a Small 'scope

The Clear Sky Clock for Halifax, NS (Canada) showed a "don't even
bother looking out the window" forecast, but when I stepped out on the
back deck, the sky looked pretty good to me. Transparency wasn't too
bad, though the seeing wasn't a 10. To these Nova Scotian eyes,
observing conditions were darned -near close to perfect! I grabbed the
76mm Borg refractor and a Pentax zoom EP and headed out to catch a bit
of comet Machholz. It was an easy find. The January 2005 copy of Sky
and Telescope has good maps on pages 84-85. It is still around mag-6,
and it does resemble a diffuse globular cluster with a pin-point core.
To see if there was an ion tail, I tried observing it with a Lumicon
SWAN-band filter (now re-christened a "Comet Filter"). The filter did
not reveal any more detail, so I can assume that we are still seeing a
dusty comet. Perhaps when it's higher in the sky for Northern-latitude
observers, it may display an ion appendage.

I also took the time to swing the little telescope to Orion. At it's
lowest magnification, the nebulae complex filled the field. The
Trapezium was an obvious grouping of four pinpoints of light, and the
glowing arc of the familiar bright complex and stark darkness of the
inky occulting nebulae made for a striking contrast. This is
definitely one of the night-sky objects that benefits from low power.

A last quick look at Saturn and I called it a night after 75 minutes
observing. It was cold (-8ºC and damp). The ringed planet was sharp
in the field, though at high power it danced and shimmered slightly in
the atmospheric turbulence. The moon was rising higher in the East by
midnight, and my eyes were getting tired, so I called it a night. I
can confidently state that my purchase of this small APO refractor was
a good one. The images are sharp, and for quick observing sessions, it
is perfect. Cool-down time is minimal, and set-up time is under a
minute. The night sky is fractal, and any aperture

Cheers,

- Craig

"Craig Levine" wrote in message
...
The Clear Sky Clock for Halifax, NS (Canada) showed a "don't even
bother looking out the window" forecast, but when I stepped out on the
back deck, the sky looked pretty good to me. Transparency wasn't too
bad, though the seeing wasn't a 10. To these Nova Scotian eyes,
observing conditions were darned -near close to perfect! I grabbed the
76mm Borg refractor and a Pentax zoom EP and headed out to catch a bit
of comet Machholz. It was an easy find. The January 2005 copy of Sky
and Telescope has good maps on pages 84-85. It is still around mag-6,
and it does resemble a diffuse globular cluster with a pin-point core.
To see if there was an ion tail, I tried observing it with a Lumicon
SWAN-band filter (now re-christened a "Comet Filter"). The filter did
not reveal any more detail, so I can assume that we are still seeing a
dusty comet. Perhaps when it's higher in the sky for Northern-latitude
observers, it may display an ion appendage.

I also took the time to swing the little telescope to Orion. At it's
lowest magnification, the nebulae complex filled the field. The
Trapezium was an obvious grouping of four pinpoints of light, and the
glowing arc of the familiar bright complex and stark darkness of the
inky occulting nebulae made for a striking contrast. This is
definitely one of the night-sky objects that benefits from low power.

A last quick look at Saturn and I called it a night after 75 minutes
observing. It was cold (-8ºC and damp). The ringed planet was sharp
in the field, though at high power it danced and shimmered slightly in
the atmospheric turbulence. The moon was rising higher in the East by
midnight, and my eyes were getting tired, so I called it a night. I
can confidently state that my purchase of this small APO refractor was
a good one. The images are sharp, and for quick observing sessions, it
is perfect. Cool-down time is minimal, and set-up time is under a
minute. The night sky is fractal, and any aperture

Cheers,

- Craig

a nice read, thanks.
--
md

On Sat, 4 Dec 2004 10:56:21 +0100, "md" not given to avoid spam
wrote:


a nice read, thanks.


Thanks for the comment. I left off a bit at the end...:

"The night sky is fractal and any aperture however small or large,
will reveal something that will make one gasp in delight at the
glimpse of the unexpected, or at the sight of a familar object in an
entirely new perspective."

Cheers,

- Craig

Last night (12/5/2004 at 0400 UT) from southeastern Nebraska, the comet was
around 6th magnitude and barely visible to the unaided eye (ZLM 6.5). It
showed a very faint weak diffuse tail in 10x60 binoculars, perhaps between one
and two degrees in length. In a ten inch Newtonian, the tail was visible to
at least a degree, but was still rather diffuse and dim (mainly seen by moving
the telescope). The coma was fairly bright with a sudden brightening at the
center but not quite a stellar nuclear condensation. Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************

Comet Machholz was (in this observer's opinion) a relatively easy
naked eye object as seem from rural Montana Saturday night (December
4th/5th).

It was spotted with the naked eye prior to bringing out any other
optics. Soon thereafter I tried 8x42 binoculars, followed by a new
pair of 25x100s (still being tested). The 8x42s were hand held. The
25x100s were rested on a folded blanket that was draped over the wall
of the Colosseum (an open air observatory).

The comet was a very obvious 'fuzz ball' with the 8x42s. In the
25x100s the comet was 'large' and 'bright'. No tail was noticed.

At the time of these casual observations Comet Machholz was over an
hour away from my southern meridian (thus it was rather low in the
southeast as seen from my 45+ degree North observing site).

Other tasks kept me from making any 'detailed' observations last
night. The primary point of this posting is that Comet Machholz is
definitely a naked eye comet -- at least as viewed from some locations
in the absence of moonlight.

Sketcher
To sketch is to see.

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 09:28:02 -0700, Sketcher
wrote:

Comet Machholz was (in this observer's opinion) a relatively easy
naked eye object as seem from rural Montana Saturday night (December
4th/5th).

It was spotted with the naked eye prior to bringing out any other
optics. Soon thereafter I tried 8x42 binoculars, followed by a new
pair of 25x100s (still being tested). The 8x42s were hand held. The
25x100s were rested on a folded blanket that was draped over the wall
of the Colosseum (an open air observatory).

The comet was a very obvious 'fuzz ball' with the 8x42s. In the
25x100s the comet was 'large' and 'bright'. No tail was noticed.

At the time of these casual observations Comet Machholz was over an
hour away from my southern meridian (thus it was rather low in the
southeast as seen from my 45+ degree North observing site).

Other tasks kept me from making any 'detailed' observations last
night. The primary point of this posting is that Comet Machholz is
definitely a naked eye comet -- at least as viewed from some locations
in the absence of moonlight.

Sketcher
To sketch is to see.

Hi Sketcher. Congratulations! You are the first to report (as far as I
know) that it's naked-eye. There was some discussion on this on
another list.

Which binoculars did you settle on (sorry for not replying to your
comment on an earlier thread - this was a tremendously busy/insane
week)? I'm still fairly new to the big-bino world. I found my 4lb
20x80 Binos from Oberwerk to be quite good. I sent back the first pair
as there was a focus issue and a speck of dirt on the Inside. Kevin
was great and shipped ne the replacement pair immediately, before I
had shipped out the original pair. They're eawsy top collimate, and
they're perfect on a monopod or my sturdy wooden tripod with "L"
bracket.

Cheers!

- Craig

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 09:28:02 -0700, Sketcher
wrote:

Comet Machholz was (in this observer's opinion) a relatively easy
naked eye object as seem from rural Montana Saturday night (December
4th/5th).


Sketcher
To sketch is to see.

I stepped out on my back deck this evening at 10:38 AST and let my
eyes get dark-adapted. My deck faces SE-to-SW with only about three
miles of land and two small viallages betweeen me and the North
Atlantic. I thought that I saw, with averted vision and no
magnification, a detectable fuzzy area where the comet should be. A
quick check with the big binoculars confirmed the sighting. Over 1/2
hour, I observed the area without any magnification aid, and there was
clearly a non-stellar object there! The binoculars showed brighter
core, a fuzzy globular-cluster-like extended brigt area and a slight
elongation. The warm-up is very nice. The show over the coming months
is shaping up to be much better!

Cheers,

- Craig

On Sun, 05 Dec 2004 21:43:40 GMT, Craig Levine
wrote:

Hi Sketcher. Congratulations! You are the first to report (as far as I
know) that it's naked-eye. There was some discussion on this on
another list.

David Knisely mentioned Comet Machholz as being "barely visible to the
unaided eye" in an earlier reply to this thread. In my opinion the
comet was a bit more than *barely* naked eye; but my casual
observation was more recent than David's more serious observation.

Which binoculars did you settle on (sorry for not replying to your
comment on an earlier thread - this was a tremendously busy/insane
week)? I'm still fairly new to the big-bino world. I found my 4lb
20x80 Binos from Oberwerk to be quite good. I sent back the first pair
as there was a focus issue and a speck of dirt on the Inside. Kevin
was great and shipped ne the replacement pair immediately, before I
had shipped out the original pair. They're eawsy top collimate, and
they're perfect on a monopod or my sturdy wooden tripod with "L"
bracket.

I have a pair of Orion 25x100s.

Kevin did a good job answering my Oberwerk questions. The only glitch
was that the Orion binoculars (an order that I was considering
cancelling) suddenly landed in my hands!

Sketcher
To sketch is to see.

Sketcher posted:

David Knisely mentioned Comet Machholz as being "barely visible to the
unaided eye" in an earlier reply to this thread. In my opinion the
comet was a bit more than *barely* naked eye; but my casual
observation was more recent than David's more serious observation.

It was only about 10 to 15 degrees above the southeastern horizon, which is
almost directly over a power plant about 5 miles away. We didn't stay out
long enough to see it get higher, as clouds were moving in and we all wanted
to call it a night (we were holding an H-alpha solar observing session the
next morning). If it had been higher, it probably would have been more easily
seen, but it was not much brighter than 6th magnitude, as M33 was considerably
easier to see that night (almost overhead). Clear skies to you.

--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

**********************************************
* Attend the 11th Annual NEBRASKA STAR PARTY *
* July 18-23, 2004, Merritt Reservoir *
* http://www.NebraskaStarParty.org *
**********************************************