Sky spying.You don't need high-tech gear for sky-watching. Donald Machholz Donald Edward Machholz is an American amateur astronomer from Colfax, California. He is the most successful living visual comet hunter in the United States, being creditied with the discovery of 10 comets, including the periodic comets 96P/Machholz, 141P/Machholz and, his , a stargazer stargazer, common name for any of several species of marine fishes of the family Uranoscopidae, found in southern waters, and having the mouth, nostrils, and eyes set high in the head. Stargazers lie buried in the sand, waiting for their prey of small crustaceans. from California, used a backyard telescope to discover a new comet (celestial ce·les·tial adj. 1. Of or relating to the sky or the heavens: Planets are celestial bodies. 2. Of or relating to heaven; divine: celestial beings. 3. body made of ice and dust that circles the sun). Machholz's comet, named C/2004 Q2, is speeding toward Earth in a long oval path around the sun. During its closest flyby fly·by also fly-by n. pl. fly·bys A flight passing close to a specified target or position, especially a maneuver in which a spacecraft or satellite passes sufficiently close to a body to make detailed observations without early this month, the comet may be visible even without a telescope. The sun's heat vaporizes (converts to gas) the comet's ice. This gas reflects (bounces back) sunlight, causing the comet to glow. Scientists aren't sure how bright the comet will be this month. But all eyes will be on the winter show. |
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