Comet Malchotz makes 3!

fizzy123 · Post by **fizzy123** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:13 pm

The comet is now in the lepus region...............

:idea:

MooEy · Post by **MooEy** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:14 pm

grab a pair of 50mm binos, scan ard lepus/eridanus till u hit a big white spot, that's machholz.

~MooEy~

MooEy · Post by **MooEy** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:18 pm

comet has moved up by quite alot already.

~MooEy~

MooEy · Post by **MooEy** » Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:27 pm

oh ya, while u are at machholz, take down this planetary neb as well :x it's just slighty above it.

http://www.seds.org/~spider/ngc/ngc.cgi?ngc1535

ps:i'm joking, that's a mag 10 PN that is barely bigger than a star at 50x.

~MooEy~

Post by **Airconvent** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 3:07 am

zong wrote:Aiyo, OT liao! :offtopic:

Back to the comet, is anyone able to show me how a comet actually looks like? By astrophotography i mean..

Yesterday weather was good around 1200+, so i took an hour to scan the sky where the comet was predicted to be. But I ain't seen one before, don't know how it looks like, and couldn't see anything remotely like a comet in that whole area An hour and no results! Me = lousy right? Someone help...

Hi zong,
If you go to the astrophotography section, you will see some excellent comet images taken by Matthew (MYCM). He's really good at that! Anyway, the tail of a comet is normally not so visible, so you basically see the fuzzy core.
Comets appear as a small fuzzy patch on your scope. For the earlier T2 and Q4, you can actually make out the core as well as the glow around it.

In finding Malchotz, did you have a good bino with you?
I feel this is essential to get the general location of the comet before you zoom in on it with your telescope. Of course, if you have a goto scope, just key in the coordinates and walla!!

I like its current location as it's within a stone's throw from a popular constellation and not some more obscure one, making it easy to find.

To find it, look at Orion. At his feet is Lepus (look for a faint group of stars below Orion's leg). Use your bino to scan the area to the right of Lepus. If you look carefully, you will notice a faint patch. That would be your comet.
It helps if you can find a concrete floor and lie down flat before looking as its more difficult if your neck hurts from the zenith-looking orientation.
Good luck on your search.

Last point, the comet is moving, so each week, it is moving further away from its current location, so make adjustment for that.

cheers

rich

Post by **zong** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:50 am

Hm.. I wasn't that bad afterall haha. at least i still know how to use a star map from Sky and Telescope

Yup I searched the region in lepus and to the north because it's moving toward Eridanus and Taurus. What I did that day was scan the area 2x the distance of M42 from Rigel. Quite accurate, according to the picture up there. Prolly I caught it but dunno how to identify bah. :x

Sam Lee · Post by **Sam Lee** » Sun Dec 19, 2004 1:40 pm

hmm. the last time i saw it in west coast, it looks like a globular cluster in a 7x50 binos.

I did a star hop to the region instead of wandering aimlessly at the region for it. It was rather easy as there were enough bright star around. Try it tonight !

Regards,
Sam

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 7:47 pm

Just back from Batam, the sky was quite clear last night from the beach resort. Machholz was easy. Also had the best view of Pleiades and M42 so far from my new Fujinon 7x50.

MooEy · Post by **MooEy** » Mon Dec 20, 2004 9:01 pm

does machholz appear to the naked eye at batam? suppose to be mag 4.9 already.

~MooEy~

Grievous · Post by **Grievous** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 10:07 am

Why Mooey?? Itching to go back to Batam and Uban again???

Charlie