Dr. Forbush Thinks

Machholz - Update - 3

First of all, I noticed that there is a common misspelling of this comet's name, which is Mackholz, but even though I have misspelled it in the past, the correct spelling is Machholz.

Last night after two weeks of rain we finally had clear skies. After dinner I found the coordinates of the comet, looked it up on my sky chart, and went outside with my binoculars. Based on the star chart I found that the comet wasn't very far from the Pleiades. I looked around the large cluster of stars and found the comet a bit further away than I had expected. My coordinates were for the 10th of January, and it was already the 12th.

The comet is moving very fast now, so the information will be dated very soon. However, for the next few days the easiest way to find Machholz is to find the three groups of stars: Orion, Taurus and the Pleiades. If you draw an imaginary line connecting these three groups together Machholz is at the Pleiades end along the line moving further away every day. As an aside it is interesting to note that these three objects are similar stellar nurseries at different times of its development.

My observation of the comet was that it was a magnitude between 4 and 4.5 based on the stars in the background. It is very easy to see with binoculars. I could just make it out with my naked eye in my light polluted backyard. Binoculars are certainly the way to go. According to my list of position coordinates the magnitude of Machholz is also at it’s maximum. It should slowly dim from now on.

Here’s to clear skies for everyone who wants to see this comet before it disappears into the dark of space.