Slashdot Mirror
Comet Machholz Now Visible to Naked Eye
An anonymous reader submits "A comet discovered only this summer is brightening quickly and already visible to the unaided eye. Comet Macholz should be visible to the unaided eye until late January. On the night of January 7 - 8, it will sail about 2 degrees (4 Moon widths) to the west of the easily recognisable Pleiades star cluster, often known as the Seven Sisters. It will be at its closest to Earth Jan. 5-6, 2005, when it will be 32 million miles away." (Mentioned a few days ago, too.)
I'm looking at Starry Night.
Its visible about 20 degrees in the sky to the north, after 10:30pm adelaide time.
I went to see it 2 days ago (after the first slashdot story) but it was cloudy... and its cloudy every damn day.
I suggest you drive up north up port wakefield road somewhere to get away from the city lights to somewhere real dark to try and look, but only if the weather cooperates.
In a few days time you won't see it at all as it won't appear above the horizon at all for us southern hemisphere observers. Northen hemisphere observers are in for a real treat I think.
D.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
From one of the articles: "In binoculars, look for an object that is fuzzy compared with the much more distant stars."
This doesn't really meet my definition of "naked eye." I guess I was expecting something like the Hale-Bopp comet which was easily visible to the unaided, naked eye. This one appears to be much farther away.
Check out Chad's News
Where's Bruce Willis when you need him? :-)
BTW: It's discoverer tells the tale of how it was found here. Amazing what you can do with a telescope that the parents bought for Christmas 1968.