NE US observers, tonight 1/1 is a good night...

.... and it may be your only good shot to observe Comet Machholz, as it
appears is my situation. Five days straight of rain and clouds coming.
Damn, but I am getting used to it. A few memorable observing events
per year
This is a good update:

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/0412...et_update.html

Yes, it is quite bright. It took me about thirty seconds to eye it, it
was to the right of the line I was visualizing. Just go two binocular
widths at four o'clock away from the Pleiades, and you cannot miss it.
My limiting magnitude here at the Jersey shore is about 4.5 on a very
good moonless night. Tonight is pretty good already despite it being
early, and seeing this object was easy in 20x70 binocs.
So, the 8" is cooling, and I apologize for any redundancy on my
part, but I do not have time to download 40,000 headers before giving
a quick heads up. Let's look at the all-important infrared radar:

http://image.weather.com/images/sat/ussat_600x405.jpg

Hmm, it's about time...

- Livingston

... and it may be your only good shot to observe Comet Machholz, as it

Very obvious naked eye from my place - we estimated brighter than mag 5. No
naked eye tail, but seen with 20x80 binos extending up to lambda Taurus,
around 3.5degrees. We also saw what looked like a shorter and fainter tail
pointing down to the south. It was unexpectedly clear, with M31 extending
beyond the 3.5degree fov of the binos, a very beautiful M42, and pronounced
Merope nebulosity. An unexpected, and very nice New Year's treat.

Dennis

Dennis Woos wrote:
... and it may be your only good shot to observe Comet Machholz, as it


Very obvious naked eye from my place - we estimated brighter than mag 5. No
naked eye tail, but seen with 20x80 binos extending up to lambda Taurus,
around 3.5degrees. We also saw what looked like a shorter and fainter tail
pointing down to the south. It was unexpectedly clear, with M31 extending
beyond the 3.5degree fov of the binos, a very beautiful M42, and pronounced
Merope nebulosity. An unexpected, and very nice New Year's treat.

Dennis

You must have some nice skies there Dennis. Congratulations on your
observations. I was unable to make out a tail, but the comet was obvious
naked eye, creating a "Corvus" shaped trapezoid with three of the
brighter nearby stars.

-Stephen

You must have some nice skies there Dennis. Congratulations on your
observations. I was unable to make out a tail, but the comet was obvious
naked eye, creating a "Corvus" shaped trapezoid with three of the
brighter nearby stars.

-Stephen

We are in rural Vermont, and we do have a pretty good sky, and sometimes a
great sky. In fact, this variability in sky quality is something that I
don't understand very well, and intend to research. As an example, one
night this fall my older son and I were out doing some observing - spending
a bit of time around Canus Major with our 20x80 binos. I happened to swing
them around to M97 and M108, and couldn't believe my eyes. M97 looked
better than I have ever seen it - a big and bright cotton ball (but no
eyes). M108 looked like a smaller M31, and was great. We have not seen
them this nice since, and certainly not before - even in *much* larger
instruments. Certainly air glow is a factor, and I don't understand this
phenomena very well. However, I don't believe air glow accounts for all of
the difference. I would like to understand this better so as to be able to
predict this super seeing. Maybe it is not possible? Anyway, we really
enjoy it when we get it. This evening was pretty nice - probably better
than a lot, or even most, folks ever get! However, I hear that the
southwestern U.S is really something.

Dennis