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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Comet Macholz arrives in our Winter Skies...

It's been awhile since a good comet has come around. Comet Macholz could be an interesting object to view.

---------------

Donald Machholz of Colfax, California discovered his 10th comet on
August 27, 2004. Donald is an optician and amateur astronomer who has
been interested in astronomy since age eight. He discovered nine
comets from 1978 through 1994. Since 1994 he spent 1,457 hours
scanning the skies for other comets, without any luck.

His luck changed on the morning of Aug. 27th when he swept up comet
C/2004Q2 (Macholtz) at 30X in his 6-inch f/8 Criterion Dynascope
newtonian reflector. This vintage telescope was the mainstay of
amateur astronomers in the 60's & 70's. Donald purchased his
Dynascope in 1968.

Comet Macholtz will be well placed in the sky for evening viewing
during all of January. The comet will come closest to the Earth,
only 32 million miles, on January 5, 2005. It will pass just 2
degrees from the famous Pleiades star cluster on January 7th. At that
time it will be 130 degrees from the Sun and may be an easy naked eye
object away from city lights. The view in binoculars and telescopes
should be fascinating. Comet Macholtz is predicted to be 4th
magnitude from mid December 2004 to early February 2005 peaking at
4.1 magnitude on January 7th.

The Moon new on January 10 so the sky will be moonless on the best
observing nights. The timing and placement of this comet could not be
better.

From early January till late February this comet will move pretty
quickly from southern Taurus, through Perseus and Cassiopeia, into
northern Cepheus. All the while it will be easily seen in binoculars
and telescopes all evening long. During this time it will not set
till about 3 AM. On March 7th it will enter Camelopardalis and pass
less than 5 degrees from the North Star.

Comet announcements always need to be accompanied with the usual
notice that it could be considerably fainter than expected but at the
time of this writing C/2004Q2 (Macholtz) is 1/2 magnitude brighter
than predicted. However bright this comet turns out, be sure and get
a look this winter because comet Macholtz will not be back for
119,000 years!

------------

I remember in the '70's about the great expectation of Comet Kohuetek. I was really excited about it, butb it turned out to be a dud and quite dissapointing.

I had some consolation, as since a child, I read about the Great Halley's comet coming our way in 1986. I had prepared for this arrival for many many years. Well, another dud, as it did not live up to it's 1910 passby accounts.

This one will not be as grand as Hale-bopp or Hyakatuke, but it will be cool to target it in our scopes. And..it will come close to Polaris in March!

Let's all bundle up and catch Macholtz this winter.

[NatureDevil]

I'll be doing a show on January 6th at the Note downtown, but the 5th and 7th are both open.

I remember being upset in 1986 and not being able to see what I had hoped to see. I was in 3rd grade at the time, and all I remember was clouds and a fuzzy picture on the TV that didn't cheer me up. I am so up for catching a comet in January.

NatureDevil

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Comet Macholtz is doing pretty good and has promise of being a bright object. Here is an observation from an astronomer in Austrailia:

Comet Machholz is well placed for those of us in the
Southern Hemisphere. It has been brightening steadily, now about mag
7 . This is in line with predictions for a reasonable show in
December/January. It is now bright enough and showing enough tail to
be an interesting object visually with binoculars. Recommended
viewing for anyone with the opportunity as it heads North.

It is not moving far at the moment from night to night,
should
crank up soon. It is in a patch of dark sky at the moment and I am
getting
good views of coma and short tail with my 11x80 binoculars, while my
16 inch
reflector shows a very bright stellar core. Should be good by the
time it


Heading toward the Pleiades, It will make for good winter observations.

[timothy]

GREETINGS FROM THE BURBS
This comet is first priority on my list, Once the sky I call cream of cloud soup goes away . I already have it plotted out on a map for the next couple months. It seems like it will be just like , I think it was Q4, That came through last spring. I was looking up comets and came across this sight that predicts comet brightness for the future, and shows one in 2006 or 7 that is supposed to be a mag 1. Hope that comes to be.

Tim

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Tim,

Mag 1? Wow...that will be plenty bright...as bright as a planet in our night skies! Please do pass along the info on this anticipated comet.

Also, if you have plotted Macholtz on your computer, I would be glad to post it here...so that we all can follow along.

Macholtz is on my high list as well.

Thanks for the info.

[timothy]

Hi Joe
I printed out a map from starrynights and drew in the line it will follow and the dates along the way. Here is the sight I got the mag 1 comet from for may 06
www.aerith.net/comet/future-n.html

Happy hunting

Tim

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Al,

I attempted to access your graphic thru your link, but it didn't work. So I tried looking around at your site for it, but couldn't find it.

Please to instruct me.

p.s... I was reading your observations including comet Macholtz...cool!

[Al Degutis]

Joe,

I fixed the problem with the graphic. I had uploaded it while my ISP was moving my site to a new server so it never got moved. Try the link now.

As for the observation reports, you must have read Dave Mitsky's accounts. I haven't see it yet. Dave has posted some great observation reports on various objects, especially DSOs, throughout my site.

[stargazer]

Thanks for the chart. I plan on printing it out. I am doing a Asteroid and Comet lesson for a Astronomy club and plan on doing something about this comet..

Sorry I havent been around much this week. A very good friend passed away on Sun. So I havent felt much like talking on any groups. Mine included. I only put up a memorial for him. Now its time to deal with all of hius equipment as he was an Astronomer.

[stargazer]

Has anyone seen this Comet yet. My first chance at it really will be Sat night at a Star Party I am going to. Some time this month I have a class to give on Comet Maccholz and hope to have my own pics to show. I want to show it coming and going this year. I really hope I can do it. I will let you know if it works.

Becky

[dewayne]

It's finally clear. I'm going to take a shot at Comet C/2004 Q2 Machholz.
I understand it's in Lepus, not too awfully far from Orion.
Anybody seen it yet?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

No, I haven't even attempted a search of the Comet as of yet. I think I'll wait till it gets higher and maybe brighter as the months comes.

So in other words, I guess I will wait until it's -10 with a great wind chill

Becks...is this star party the monthly Triton event?

Also...

This is a post from Dennis's St. Louis Gateway Astronomy Group on Yahoo:

I observed this comet at 10:00 last night from the observatory in
Greenville with my 12.5"
I didn't have time to sketch or measure or anything like that. This
thing is big, big, big. It filled my lowest power eyepiece. I was
wishing I had my binoculars with me.

Get out an see this comet! You'll have to wait until later in the
evening for it to rise enough to see. By 10:00 it was well
positioned. It's a really easy hop off of Lepus. I pointed my
telrad to where I thought it should be and BAM, it was in the
eyepiece. No computers or nuthin'.

Here's a link to a finder chart for it. Usually I make much more
detailed charts. This comet is so easy to find you won't need it

www.skyhound.com/sh/2004_Q2.gif
-----------------

I printed out Al's cool comet tracker. I reversed the colors so that it's black on a white background, easier on the eyes and save me toner.

Thanks Al.

With all of these observational reports coming in, it is really reving me up to make great inner city attempts to catch this "long haired star".

[ripps1]

I didn't get out to my "near-dark sky" site last night but did drag
the binos to a neighbors' yard (they're used to seeing me there -
besides, they don't have a gun) where my view toward the comet would be unobstructed. Finding the comet was easy, however, I could tell immediatly that darker skies would have been worth the effort. The contrast was rather low due to the LP of the city lights but the comet was evident. This comet is pretty large. At 15x the nebulous head occupied a good percentage of the central FOV. I didn't detect a tail but that may be because of the LP. Things should get better since I believe the prediction is that it will peak in January at about mag 4. -Rip

[stargazer]

I also cought the comet last night from my house. You wont see a tail yet as it may still be to low. As the 5th of Jan comes around it will get better. I also took out the Bino's (20x80) and could not detect a tail. Tonight I will be in darker skies so Iwill try it out again and see what I get and will let you know how I did.

B

[Al Degutis]

I got home at midnight last night (Friday) and set my alarm for 5am Sat. I got up around 5:15am, checked SkyTools for Machholz's position only to find out it was below the horizon already. It set at 5am. It didn't matter because it was cloudy as well. I should have just went out at midnight while the skies were clear.

If the skies are clear tonight as predicted, I'll go out around 10pm.

ripps, What time did you go out?

I printed out Al's cool comet tracker. I reversed the colors so that it's black on a white background, easier on the eyes and save me toner.

Joe, I need to recreate it because a bug in the program didn't list all the dates properly. I have a program update to fix that problem so I'll post an update sometime this weekend. I'll also see if I can provide a reversed (black on white) image as well.

[Al Degutis]

I went outside at midnight and most of the sky was clear. There was a thin weil of clouds streaking across the south from west to east. I was able to find Comet Machholz using my binoculars (8x50). It looked like a globular cluster. I zoomed in to 20x50 and it still appeared to look like a globular. In fact, I double and tripled checked my charts to be 100% sure it was C/2004 Q2. It was.

Here are my updated charts. I included an "urban" view that shows fewer stars to help those close to, or in, Chicago or other big cities.
skyinsight.net/comets/c2004q2.php

About 1am, the clouds had departed and I was able to see more stars in the area but I still couldn't see Comet Machholz with the naked eye. Mostly because it was affected by the sky glow and partially because the rising Moon was reducing the limiting visibility.

Even with the clouds gone, it still looked like a globular which was obviously the coma. No tail visible at all. I snapped a few photos with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel but since it was tripod mounted I was quickly getting star trails. I'll have to set it up piggybacked on my LX200 later this month and see what results I can get.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Thanks Al for considering us minions who decide to live under the astronomically unfriendly skies of Chicago.

I have printed out the two maps and will use them to attempt to locate Macholtz.

And also...Check out Al's logo link at the bottom of this page.

[Al Degutis]

Chicago said:

Thanks Al for considering us minions who decide to live under the astronomically unfriendly skies of Chicago.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines minion as:

1 : a servile dependent, follower, or underling
2 : one highly favored : IDOL

As Chicago Astronomers I do consider you all as "highly favored" which is why I included a special urban edition.



Also, we drove into Chicago to visit family today. My sister-in-law was outside and said "man your truck smells 'country'". We went outside and the wind below the aroma of manure off our truck to our noses. Ohhh, that's what she meant. Time to wash the truck. ;D

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Here's an account from The CometChasers yahoo group:

Q2 Machholz is starting to resolve nicely under moonless skies here in
Northern calif, even in my back yard under average city light
conditions. Its easy to pick up in my 10x42 binoculars and is quiet a
eye full in my C14.
I have a nice clear view of the east and south where it comes up by
9pm so as the night grows longer, it gets higher as it rolls in the
southern skies.
Even when I had to use advert vision, it was nice to see. I think some
expect a spectacular visual display when the word comet comes up, but
even a nearly invisible smudge of light is a spectacular sight to me,
knowing its a comet.
My 14" schmidt shows a nice wide coma with a V shaped tail. The tails
are dim but noticable along the full width of my eyepiece, at about
0.65 degrees true field of view with my 31 Nagler at 125x.
Taking the comet to higher powers, 200x and above reveals a bright coma,
but the best views at this time are with a wide field eyepiece.
It should move up nicely for the next month here in calif and really
put on a nice show as it should be almost directly overhead in mid
january.
When that time comes, Im guessing I'll have better views with my 6"
refractor(Meade AR-6 on a G11) that can give me over 3 degrees true
field of view (using a 0.63 focal reducer with my 31 nagler) since the
wide field views are always the most spectacular to me when viewing
bright comets!

...Ralph
------------

This is great encouragement, and as the comet zips farther north, hopefully we will all get a good virew before it puffs out and heads into deep cold space. Thanks to Comet Chaser Ralph for his account.

I would like for the Chicago Astronomers to gather in a mini Comet party to observe this comet, and perhaps I can encourage the Adler planetarium to participtate and open the facilities for heat, restrooms and scopes.

What do the members think about this?

[Al Degutis]

This is one of three images of Comet Machholz by Adam Block from Kitt Peak Observatory:



The rest of the images are here:
www.noao.edu/outreach/aop/observers/c-2004q2.html

I visited Kitt Peak around 10 years ago but I need to make another trip back. My visit was during the day and my son, who was 9 or 10 years old at the time, wasn't all that interested so it was much a briefer visit than I had hoped.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

What a pretty image of Q2! I wonder what the green hue represents? It has a sharply defined dust trail, but the ion/gas trail seems widely dispersed.

I remember my visit to the Yerkes Observatory with a woman from my past, who also did not appreciate the moment. Too bad.

[Al Degutis]

I updated my Comet Machholz page so I now includes versions of the finder charts with a white background for better printing. I've also added a newer Jan 2005 chart.

www.skyinsight.net/comets/c2004q2.php

[stargazer]

Out of courisity is anyone here interested in locating Comet 9P/Temple1. This is the Comet NASA is goingto launch a probe to and make a big hole in it tostudy. If you would like to tyr and find it I will put up the finder chart

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I am not too comfortable with the bumblers at NASA puching a hole in it. Might it shatter...and cause a problems for Earth? I don't know, but I am interested in attempting to spot it. We have six months to prepare.

Becks, Please do post it.

[Cometdon]

Hi;
I'm kinda new to this site (I just signed up a fw minutes ago). Anyway, it seems to be quite an extensive site.

I've been reading your comments about Comet Machholz. I have been pleased with it's behaviour so far, some of the comets that I have found have not "performed" as well as expected. But this one is apparently slightly brighter than expected and has developed an unusual (twisted) ion tail, this can be seen best in photographs and CCD imaging.

I find myself lecturing to local astronomy clubs and socal groups about it, and beginning Dec 28, here in Northern California, I'm hosting free public star parties where other astronmers and I set up telescopes and show the comet and Saturn to the public (at least they will remember Saturn)!

Otherwise I'm busy with two jobs (flexable hours, 4-6 hours/day each) and raising our family, along with the usual joyful Christmas activities.

I hope all of you have a joyful holiday and enjoy the comet. It will return in about 12,000 years so now is the time to see it!.

Don Machholz
Colfax, California.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Well...I'll be Damned!

I am quite honored and ecstatic to have the Famed Comet hunter Don Macholtz himself... as a member of the Chicago Astronomer family!

What a treat to have you aboard Don, and thank you for your first post, membership and compliment on the forum.

I haven't been able to view your Comet yet, but I hope to quite soon. These damned city lights play great havoc on the bashfulness of comets, but yours is greatly anticipated.

Hope to hear from you soon and often.

[Al Degutis]

Last week my wife and I were pondering the correct pronunciation of Machholz. I came across this post in a Yahoo Group by Don himself.

From: DonM353259@a
Date: Sun Dec 5, 2004 4:36 pm
Subject: Re: A silly question on Comet Machholz

Greetings all;

Machholz is of German-Prussia descent, my great-grandparents came to the US in the 1880's and settled in Buffalo, NY.

It has two "h" and it has no "t" before the "z".

The name means "to make wood".

Our family understands that there are a couple of ways to pronounce the name. Either one is OK with me.

The "German" pronunciation is to pronounce the MAC like "mach" as in "Mach 1". It sounds like the English word "mock". The second syllable is then
pronounced "holtz".

The "American" pronunciation is for the first syllable to sound like "Mack", as in "Mack Truck" or "Mack the Knife". The second syllable then becomes
similar to the word "holts" (or "holtz" but it kinda rhymes with "volts").

I hope this helps.

Don Machholz

As usual, my wife was right and I was wrong.

[stargazer]

Welcome Don,

I hope you like it here. I have seen your comet only a couple times as the weather here has been bad. I do plan on trying to photograph it as it enters the Pleiades. I am a Asteroid Hunter but also going to try to do the Comet and Asteroid Hunter Certs from the Astronomical League. Any advice would be great.

Becky

[timothy]

Don
Welcome . Hope you visit us from time to time. I have been chomping at the bit waiting for a clear night to see your comet. I will be doing a sketch. Never tried to find Eridanus before.

Tim

[timothy]

Joe
It looks like the Chicago Astronomers fame stretchs far and wide.

Tim