Comet Machholz in January...

Dec 30, 2004

When the prolific North American comet hunter Donald Machholz awoke in the early morning hours of August 27, 2004, he likely didn’t realize that he’d find his 10th comet.  But arising in the far south, in the constellation of Eridanus, Machholz discovered an 11th-magnitude interloper with his 6” newtonian.

In an age when seemingly every comet is found by sky surveys like LINEAR and NEAT, this one was christened Comet Machholz, or C/2004 Q2 in “comet speak.”

2004 was a nice year for comets.  NEAT Q4 and LINEAR T7 were magnitude 5 treats during the month of May, and Comet Bradfield F4 surprised everybody by brightening up rather quickly at about the same time of the year.  Unfortunately, none of those comets were in a prime position for northern hemisphere observers when they reached perihelion.

This will not be so with Machholz Q2! Already a naked eye beauty at magnitude 4 to begin the New Year, Comet Machholz will rise high in the sky, shining 2 arc degrees from the Pleiades on January 7th.  Just look straight up!

It reaches perihelion on January 24th, remaining magnitude 4, having moved rapidly through Perseus toward the Double Cluster.  Machholz will have some legs too, remaining mag 6 by the time of its rendezvous with the North Star in March.

This comet doesn’t have a large tail, perhaps 5 arc degrees, but its bright coma assures many great observations over the next few months.