PRESTON
super member
Reged: 10/28/04
Posts: 147
Loc: Haldimand, Ontario, Canada
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I observed Machholz in my 10x50's last night, and I drew this sketch. It was dark, so I spelt "Machholz" wrong...
Also, the tail I drew is to represent where I felt I saw a faint brightness.
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15x70 Binocular & Tripod
114/900 EQ Newtonian
150/1200 Dob Newtonian
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ArizonaScott
Postmaster
Reged: 04/29/04
Posts: 5033
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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That's a good sketch Preston, and an accurate representation of what I saw. Way to go 
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Scott
10" LX200 Classic, Konus 200, Orion ST80, ETX90 OTA, 60mm Celestron alt-az, Obie 20x80's, Meade 10x50's
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moynihan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/22/03
Posts: 1517
Loc: Wisconsin
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Good sketch!
Similar to what i saw night before last at 19x.
jay
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"Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here"
Dual mount/ambient temperature Hominid Widefield Photon Collectors®
Pleistocene™ ½ watt Wetware Integration Unit.
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
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dgs©
Postmaster
Reged: 03/29/04
Posts: 13930
Loc: West Monroe, Louisiana
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I saw it from a school playground in the middle of town last night with 10×50 binoculars while waiting for basketball practice to end. Pretty easy even in the midst of all that light pollution.
Have yet to put my scope on it, and it's clouding up again.
I believe the tail will be mostly pointed away from us due to its position and orbit... but that makes it an all night object for a good while. 
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- david
8"Ø Newtonian on SVP, Moonlite CR2, Telrad
PST Oberwerk Ultra 15x70 Orion Ultraview 10×50
Hand-me-down Sears Refractor (Discoverer) 60mm×900mm
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world, remains and is immortal." --Albert Pike
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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I went out to look at Comet Machholz last night and get some pictures of it. I was armed with only a Nikon CP 4500 on a tripod and a pair of 12x50 binocs. The comet is visible but very small and dim in every widefield photo I took. It was absolutely amazing in the binocs. I located Orion's belt, scanned past Riegel, and BAM! I couldn't have missed it if I wanted too. Probably the biggest gray fuzzy I've ever seen. Definitely the biggest I've seen in binoculars.
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Bill
super member
Reged: 11/27/04
Posts: 140
Loc: Oklahoma
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found it in My Binocs... nice fuzzball. Will put the Dob on it early tomorrow morning.
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8" f6 Celestron Starhopper Dob
80mm WO Zenithstar
10x42 Leupold Windriver Cascades
Swift 8.5x44
2 Celestron 8x32 Bins (Japan)
Garrett Optical 15x70 Signature Series Bins
LXD55 Goto
TeleVue Telepod
CG4 on Vixen Tripod
Paragon Plus Bino mount
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werewolf6977
Lord High Smasher
Reged: 12/15/03
Posts: 7445
Loc: Hanover, Ohio
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OK, just tell me where to look for it, and I'll try. Having just read the rest of this thread, I feel rather dumb right now. Will try to bag it, if I ever get clear skies again!!!
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Pete
6" Apogee/LXD55 - "The Beast"
Starhopper 6" Dob - "Shiva"
Spaceprobe 130 EQ - "Spacey"
Bushnell Fatboy
The Abomination
Sun Pak Pro 7500 Platinum Edition
10X25 Bushnell Camo Roofies
7X35 Tasco Classic Plastic (good views though)
7X42 Tasco Rare Bird
10X50 Nikon Actions (Type 7)
15X70 Skymasters - "DroolMeisters"
One ratty old IBM 600E LapTop
Edited by werewolf6977 (12/19/04 11:06 AM)
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moynihan
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/22/03
Posts: 1517
Loc: Wisconsin
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as of yesterday:
It is kinda due west of the star 53 Eridani and almost on a line from HD 29613 the mag 5.5 star just to right of 53 Eridani (mag 3.9). Best way to find it is start at M42 go through Rigel for a few binocular field of views.
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"Gosh, you've... really got some nice toys here"
Dual mount/ambient temperature Hominid Widefield Photon Collectors®
Pleistocene™ ½ watt Wetware Integration Unit.
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
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Carol L
Reged: 07/05/04
Posts: 5880
Loc: Tomahawk, WI 45N//89W
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Quote:
OK, just tell me where to look for it, and I'll try. Having just read the rest of this thread, I feel rather dumb right now. Will try to bag it, if I ever get clear skies again!!!
Here you go Pete:
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 *Step-by-Step Lunar Sketching*
CN Gallery
Photo Gallery
8"SCT ~ 120achro ~ 90Mak ~ 80ST ~ 11x70s ~ 22x100s
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Scott Beith
SRF
Reged: 11/26/03
Posts: 33102
Loc: Gulfport, MS
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Thanks Carol,
That will take me through to New Years... 
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  Scott
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell
"The measure of a man’s greatness is not determined by what he accomplishes for himself, but by what he accomplishes for others.” -- Some Bald Guy
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PorscheG96
member
Reged: 10/29/04
Posts: 18
Loc: $F Bay Area
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This comet is haulin' across the sky right now!
I located Machholz again last night to show a friend through his binoculars then tonight I got the scope out and found it again but couldn't believe how far it'd traveled in just 24 hours! I sketched its position at 8:30 pm and decided to wait 1 hour before looking again to detect movement and here's what I saw at 80x!!
That was cool!
Edited by PorscheG96 (12/21/04 02:28 AM)
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Finally got a clear night on Saturday and managed to see Macholtz from my back garden. Looked like a large fuzzy globular cluster. Now I just need another clear night so I can track it :-)
Found it first with 10*40 binoculars, then when I new where to look, I turned the TAL on it - looked very similar in both, just brighter in the scope.
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Bill Grass
Prince Regent
Reged: 10/07/03
Posts: 11652
Loc: Denham Springs, LA
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After finding it in my 15x70s about a week ago, I pointed my 8" at it on Friday night. I still didn't detect a tail, but the core was extremely bright!
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ArizonaScott
Postmaster
Reged: 04/29/04
Posts: 5033
Loc: Phoenix, AZ
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Nice sketch there PorscheG96!  Welcome to CN.
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Scott
10" LX200 Classic, Konus 200, Orion ST80, ETX90 OTA, 60mm Celestron alt-az, Obie 20x80's, Meade 10x50's
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Cerberus
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 10/16/04
Posts: 2689
Loc: Newton, KS 67114
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Machholz will actually pass near polaris in late january early feb. maybe we will glimpse a late tail, seeing as there isn't much hope of one now.
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Special Ed
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/03
Posts: 3545
Loc: Greenbrier Co., WV 38N, 80W
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Thanks for posting your sketch, Porsche. It's a nice rendering of the comet's appearance. One suggestion: can you add some kind of scale of the FOV. It would be interesting to know how far the comet traveled in that time period. According to the charts, Machholz will appear to travel across a wider field of background stars over the next days and weeks. Hope you'll post more sketches.
Clear skies,
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Michael Rosolina
8" f/10 Orange Tube SCT
4.25" f/4.2 Astroscan Reflector
SVP 3.6" f/13.6 CA Reflector
40mm PST f/10
APM Germany HD 15x70 binoculars
Canon 12x36 IS II binoculars
Mark I Eyeball
My CN Gallery
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Special Ed
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/03
Posts: 3545
Loc: Greenbrier Co., WV 38N, 80W
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Thanks for posting the sketch of your comet observation, Preston. I wasn't able to detect any hint of a tail when I used my 10x50's at about the same day/time and with average transparency and seeing. I hope you'll post more of your observations.
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Michael Rosolina
8" f/10 Orange Tube SCT
4.25" f/4.2 Astroscan Reflector
SVP 3.6" f/13.6 CA Reflector
40mm PST f/10
APM Germany HD 15x70 binoculars
Canon 12x36 IS II binoculars
Mark I Eyeball
My CN Gallery
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djeber2
sage
Reged: 07/02/04
Posts: 493
Loc: Ohio
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I observed the comet in my 15x70 binos for about 10 min last night. It was only about 4 degrees out and windy, too cold to set up a scope.
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Don
1 Dob: Hardin DSH10
4 Small scopes: Celestron ED80, Meade 114NT/500 4.5", Orion 102 Mak, Orion 100mm Astroview
2 Classic Scopes: 4.25" Edmunds reflector, Sears 60mm Discovery
4 Binoculars: 15x70 Celestron skymaster, 10x42 Celestron Regal, 8x40 Nikon Action, 10x50 Orion Binoculars
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PorscheG96
member
Reged: 10/29/04
Posts: 18
Loc: $F Bay Area
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Hi Scott, thanks for the welcome. I actually made a sketch on paper at the eyepiece and then did the drawing you see in a computer program based on my sketch.
Special Ed, good point about the FOV! I used a 15mm Orion Ultrascopic in my 8" f/6 dob so the field was roughly 0.72 degrees or 43 arc minutes. Even though my image is of a square it's pretty much the same proportion of what I saw through 43' FOV.
I'll update the image when I get home from work tonight, thanks for the help!!! 
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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Caught it again last night. Bit harder to pick out at first due to the bright moon. Still couldn't make out a tail, but interesting to see how much it had moved in two nights. Memo to self - start plotting it.
Hoping for clear skies in the new year as it gets higher and the moon stops interfering :-)
(Mind you the moon was looking good too)
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