Highlights of 2005 and a January Comet

Top 2. Jan 14, 2005 8:28 AM

» Tina_Coruth - Re: Comets

In response to Comets posted by humorous_sage:

Hi Gregg,

Have you seen Macholtz without having to use binoculars? I haven't had many opportunities to look since the skies seem always to be cloudy. The last time was a few days ago, but I needed my binoculars.

I enjoy reading your articles.

-- posted by Tina_Coruth

Top 3. Jan 20, 2005 11:23 AM

» greggpasterick - Re: Comets

In response to Comets posted by humorous_sage:

I'm not as serious as I once was, but still interested. I did major in astronomy in college, but that seemed to feed my poetic side more than my scientific side. Where astronomy is concerned ... all of nature in fact ... I try to show people new things, hopefully to generate some interest in nature.

But I am always interested in the stuff that gets found every day. Like Titan, an alien world. It is scientifically exciting, and poetically inspiring. Alien worlds ... a kind of proto-earth...

It's all pretty wonderful.

Thanks for reading...

-- posted by greggpasterick

Top 4. Jan 20, 2005 11:33 AM

» greggpasterick - Re: Re: Comets

In response to Re: Comets posted by Tina_Coruth:

Hi Tina...

Sorry it's taken me this long to reply; my wife and I are packing up to move on, and we're still not sure where we're moving on to, though it appears as though it's gonna be Alaska. We are gypsy innkeepers, and have finished a gig on the southern coast of Washington...

Anyway...

I did see the comet w/o binocs, though it was very faint, and averted vision really helped. And in a location with very little artificial illumination. This was during the first few days of the year, when we had a few clear nights. It was cloudy during the period of its predicted brightest.

I saw it on three consecutive nights, and while it did not seem to brighten at all, or change in appearance in anyway, it was fun to observe its movement among the stars from one night to the next. That is always one fun things about most comets, which are usually only margnially visible to the naked eye, and I've gotten to see quite a few over the past 25 years...

Glad ya like the articles. All of this year's articles are written already. THat's the wonderful thing about a lot of astronomy; we know where a lot of stuff's gonna be, at least as far as our solar system...

I also write weekly wildflower articles here, and I'm written up through August and trying to have them all written through November. If we go to Alaska, I may not have alot of my resources with me there, so...

Anyway ... thanks for your note, glad ya enjoy the articles, and don't be a stranger!

-- posted by greggpasterick