View Observations | Add Observations
Help | Discussion | Acknowledgements
Comet (Comet, est. mag -4, est. to be in Aquila)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Jan 8 22:00:00 2007 UT Obs. no.: 1609
This evening, my friend Joe Cseh and I attempted to observe Comet McNaught from seperate locations in Southern Connecticut. I was able to easily spot the comet only fifteen minutes after sunset. In binoculars, the comet and its tail were very bright and this was in very bright twilight. My friend, Joe Cseh was easily able to spot the comet with his naked eye only five minutes after sunset. He also repoted it as being very bright. Since my horizon was much lower than Joe's, I was able to view it for a little while longer which allowed me to see it really brighten up before it set.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 6, est. to be in Hercules)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Tue Oct 31 00:30:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1575
This evening, my friends, Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I observed Comet Swan with Mike's 6" dob and my 12mm televue eyepiece. With this fairly high power, we were able to see three seperate steller points within the head of the comet. The comet's center actually looks fragmented to me. Since a first quarter moon was out, we were not able to see a tail this time around. Finally, the comet still retained the slightest tinge of green color.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 4.5, est. to be in Corona Borealis)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 80-mm binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: good
Time: Thu Oct 26 23:45:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1574
This evenimg, My friend, Mike Dzubaty and I observed Comet Swan, which has suddenly brightened. We were easilly able to spot it with our naked eyes before we started to observe the comet with Mike's mounted 11X80 binoculars. The comet appeared to have a slightly greenish tinge to it. We were able to see the comet's tail with relative ease. Compared to globular cluster M13, Comet Swan appeared to be more than twice the size and magnitude of M13. We also got to observe M31, the Double Cluster, the Coat Hanger as well as Albereo, the double star.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 6.0, est. to be in Bootes)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Oct 15 23:30:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1570
This evening, My friends, Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I observed Comet Swan with Mike's 6" short tube reflector and his 11X70 binoculars. Comet Swan had a condensed but fuzzy core. The 11X70 binoculars showed a short tail. The tail only looked about twice as large as the comet itself. We also observed M31 with the 11X70 binoculars and it showed much of the wings of the galaxy. M8 in my 10X50 binoculars was outstanding with the nebula on the left side and and the star cluster on the right side. Later, we stopped at my house to observe a couple of things with my 127mm MAK and brand new 12mm televue eyepiece. Our first test was a double star in Aries. The star was split into two componants which looked like white stars. Finally, we threw the scope on the Pleiades. The nebula around the Pleiades was very pronounced and I think this new Televue eyepiece is worth every penny I spent on it.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 8, est. to be in Corona Borealis)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Mon May 1 01:30:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1530
This evening, my friends, Steve Borer, Mike Dzubaty, Mike's son and daughter Mike and Tanya and I attempted to observe Comet 73p-c with mounted 10X50 binoculars. To our surprise, we were able to see fragments B & C. Fragment B was a fuzzy blotch with with a short stubby tail and fragment C was a smaller fuzzy blotch in which no tail was seen. I think that our abillity to see the comet with mounted binoculars now bodes well for the comet to be fairly bright by mid month.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 6)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com, web: http://home.mindspring.com/~jcaggiano/)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars Location: Glenside, Pa, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Mar 11 09:30:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1509
Woke up early so I could observe Comet Pojmanski. It was spotted from my upstairs window so I could see over the houses across the street. Waited a half hour or so in order to view from outside around 5:00AM. It looked like a faint star. Not nearly as good as Macholz was last year but at least I got to see it. Promptly went back to bed after 30 seconds of viewing.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 5, est. to be in Aquila)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 10-mm binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sun Mar 5 10:10:00 2006 UT Obs. no.: 1505
This morning, I groggily arose from my bed before dawn to observe Comet Pojmanski with my 10X50 binoculars. It took me less than a minute to spot the comet. In binoculars, the comet looks like a green fuzzball in the sky. Its size is relatively small. People in dark sky areas have been seeing a tail rather easily, but my light polluted skies didn't allow me to see any tail.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 9, est. to be in Virgo)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 70-mm binoculars Location: New River, West Va., USA
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat May 28 04:00:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1237
Went White Water Rafting down in West Virginia this weekend. The trip was phenominal! I decided to take my 70mm binos just in case the sky was clear. Was I ever so glad I had. The view was perfect. The town we were in was in the New River Gorge located 500 miles south of Philadelphia. I have never seen such a dark sky. There were so many stars I was actually having a hard time finding the constellations due to so many being visible. Limiting magnitude was probably better than 6.5. Using just the binos, I found more galaxies in 3 minutes than I have with my 6" telescope since it was bought over a year ago. Starting out in the Big Dipper, I "immediately" spotted both M81 and M82. Both were slanted at opposing 45 degree angles from one another with M81 on the right and M82 on the left. I could clearly see the spiral structure. I have tried time and again to see this pair from my home in Pennsylvania but to no avail. After catching my breath, I moved on to M101. This was another target I had tried in vain to seek for over a year. Also spotted this one immediately. At first glance, it appeared to have a rectanglular form. By using averted vision I picked up its elongated whirlpool shape. It was dim yet still easily visible. It's size was massive. Oddly enough I had completely forgotten to check for M51 (DOH!) I completed my viewing with Comet Temple 1. Viewing the star that appears to be Virgo's "Heart" I spotted an orange fuzzball (yes, I actually saw it's color!!!) that was a near perfect circle as if the comet was heading straight for me. There was no noticeable tail as if the comet was going to a particular side. Just a hazy large orange glow. My brother confirmed the color and the near perfect circle as if it waqs a planetary nebula in time exposure pictures. Next year we are planning to run a white water trip down the lower river basin. I think I will pack my 6" scope when we do. All in all, probably the best night of observing in my life!!! All this time I thought my telescope did not have enough aperature. All I really needed was an completely dark sky.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 3.5, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 50-mm binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Mon Jan 10 23:30:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1141
This evening,I observed Comet Machholz with my 10X50 binoculars. The comet is now rather large in binoculars. The core itself looks fuzzy and large. I can faintly see both tails leaving the the comet in different directions. The ion tail is the longer tail of the two tails but it looks to me like the tail is less than one degree long.
Comet (Comet, est. to be in Aries)
Observer: Andrew Powell (e-mail: vader2005@fsmail.net)
Instrument: 60-mm refractor Location: Preston, Lancashire, England, UK
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Mon Jan 10 22:30:43 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1140
Today was my first viewing of machhloz through my telescope i am an amatuer i only got my scope for xmas. I couldn't see the tail of the comet but i was a stunning sight to see. The colour wasn't really green but more of a greyish white but still is was beautiful. i would appreciate any tips for further viewing of the comet or planetry viewing.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 3.8, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Jan 1 23:00:00 2005 UT Obs. no.: 1139
This evening, after eating three dishes of lasagna for my New Years dinner, I observed Comet Machholz with my 127mm MAK and my 10X50 binoculars. Tonight, I was not able to see any tails on the comet because of less than ideal viewing conditions. Since many people have been reporting the comet's color as green, I decided to see if I could see any color. The best I could tell was that the comet looked greyish green to me. Even when I observed the comet with my friends 13" dob the other day, the comet still looked greyish green to me. The comet will continue to brighten until mid Jan. A bright comet and lasagna, what a start to the new year.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 3.8, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 13-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Dec 31 00:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1137
This evening, my friends, Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I observed Comet Machholz with Mikes 13" dob. At high power, the comet's bright core was still fuzzy looking. What looked like a bright steller looking core turned out to be a star the comet was passing by. This means the comet has only one bright spot in its head. In binoculars, the comet's ion tail is just barely visible. It looks to be about half a degree long. Finally, we can now see the comet naked eye with no trouble. The comet will continue to brighten for the next two weeks. Next we put the scope on the Orion Nebula. The nebula was greenish in color with just a hint of red tinge in it.We also examined the nebulae around the belt stars of Orion and the stars of the Pleiades open cluster. In both cases, the blue stars made the nebulae around them have a bluish tinge. Finally, we observed Saturn. The South Equitorial Belt contines to show well as does the Cassini Division. However, the south polar cap continues to look much lighter in color than it did last year.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 4.0, est. to be in Taurus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Tue Dec 28 02:10:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1136
Tonight, I observed Comet Machholz with my 10X50 binoculars. Despite the bright moonlight, I could see the comet very easily in my binoculars. The steller core is still in the comet's head and the comet continues to brighten. I think the comet will be naked eye as soon as the moon phase wanes some more.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 5.0, est. to be in Eridanus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 127-mm other Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Dec 18 03:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1132
Tonight, I observed Comet Machholz with my 127mm Mak. It appears the comet's head has two bright stellar points. I tried 61X and 123X and the lower power actually was the better view. The comet's tail is still short and fanshaped. I could not see the faint ion tail that I saw two nights ago. Overall, the comet is more impressive in 10X50 binoculars. I also observed M42 and M43, the Orion Nebula. My 127mm MAK shows M42's color as a pale green. M43 was completely detached and showed no color.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 4.5, est. to be in Eridanus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Dec 16 03:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1131
Tonight, I once again observed Comet Machholz with my 10X50 binoculars. It looks to me like the comet's tail is starting to grow. I estimate the tail is now about one third of a degree long. The starlike point in the comet's head seems less obvious tonight than it did last night.Tonight, I could not see it naked eye like I did last night.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 4.5, est. to be in Eridanus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: light Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Wed Dec 15 03:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1130
I took another look at Comet Machholz with my 10X50 binoculars. I can now see a bright starlike point in the comet's head. The tail still looks short and fan shaped. I surprised myself when I realized I had no trouble seeing the comet naked eye. The comet is still a month away from being its brightest. I really believe this is going to be a fine naked eye comet to observed during the next two months.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 6.0, est. to be in Eridanus)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Thu Dec 9 04:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1126
After reading Joe Caggiono's excellant observations of Comet Machholz, my friend, Joe Cseh and I decided to observe the comet with our 10X50 binoculars. The comet looked like a big blob and it was an easy to see object in my binoculars. I was able to make out the fan shaped tail that Joe Caggiono described. The comet will reach peak brightness in about a month and I honestly think it will be an easy naked eye object. Beginning next week, I will be observing the comet with my 127mm MAK telescope and my 1.5X night vision scope.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 7, est. to be in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 70-mm equatorial reflector Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Mon Dec 6 02:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1125
Tracked Comet Machholz for about 10 minutes with 70mm binos. It's easy finding it now, even in moderate light pollution. I can't wait until it glows at 4th magnitude next month.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 7, est. to be in Orion)
Observer: Joe Caggiano (e-mail: jcaggiano@mindspring.com)
Instrument: 6-inch equatorial reflector Location: Horsham, Pa., USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sat Dec 4 03:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1123
Tonight's viewing was awesome! I viewed M1, M57, M31, M42, M45, Saturn and Comet Machholz. Staring at approximately 7:00 PM, M57 was in prime viewing position. The ring was nice but there was a good deal of light pollution so I could not go beyond 75x of the Ring. Using my 70mm binos I marveled at the M31 Galaxy for alittle while. The core was easily visible however the satellite galaxies were difficult to see. M45 was also a splendor in the binos as the whole cluster fit nicely in the FOV at 15x. I decided to wait for the night to wear on alittle more before continuing. I resumed my viewing at 10:00. Starting alittle south of Orion with my binos, I spotted Comet Machholz. It took about 20 minutes for me to finally find the comet with the scope. The comet appeared alittle less bright than M31 but only half as large. It's faint tail sprayed out in fan at about a 90 degree angle. This was the first comet I have seen through this telescope. I tracked it for about 10 minutes before moving on. Next I moved on to the Crab Nebula (M1). It was not as bright tonight as it was on previous nights. Barely discernable as a lowercased "s". I used averted vision to see any detail. My next stop was M42. As always it was a fine show in my scope at any power. I ended my stargazing with Saturn. The view tonight was much better than my previous viewing. Using a Saturn Satellite program I plotted what moons I was viewing at that moment. Visible at 203x were Titan, Dione and Rhea. Also the Cassini Division was very readily visible. There was also a singular dark, thick equatorial belt visible (much darker than the previous night). All in all, a phenomenal night for viewing!
Comet (Comet, est. mag 6.5, est. to be in Bootes)
Observer: Giorgos Koronis (e-mail: giorgos.koronis@lies.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Parnon mountain, Greece
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: fair
Time: Fri Jul 16 19:56:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1038
Second starparty/astrocamping of the Greek Astronomical League in Parnon mountain.The comet C/2004 K4 was in Bootes.Easy with binoculars.Thru the 8" f/4.5 dob at 91x it was large with a small tail and a well defined nucleus.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 6.0, est. to be in Ursa Major)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Colebrook, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: none Transparency: excellent Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun Jun 20 02:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1028
Last night, my friends Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I went on an overnight trip to the very dark skies of the northwest hills of Connecticut. We observed Comet Neat close to the bowl of the Big Dipper. It now looks smaller in size but it is still an easy binocular object. In the 10" dob, the tail of the comet was still fan shaped. The core of the comet was still bright. With the seeing being so great, we then turned our attention to M51. This galaxies spiral shape was very easy to see and great to look at. M81 and M82 were also great. The spiral shape of M81 was also easy to see. The dust lanes of M82 were sharp and clear. M31 filled the whole field of my binoculars despite being low on the horizon. As the night wore on, we turned our view to the southern sky. We had spectacular views of M4, M6, M7, M11, M8, M20, M22, M13, and M24. All of these open and globular clusters and neblae were tremendous in 10X 50 binoculars. The coat hanger was really clear. Fnally on Sunday morning, before we left, we observed the sun through my Sunspotter Solar Telescope. The center of the sun has several groups of large sunspots on it. Hopefully, one of these spots will cause a northrn lights display this week.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 4.0, est. to be in Lynx)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Mon May 31 02:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1013
Tonight, My friends, Mike Dzubaty, Steve Borer and I observed Comet Neat in Steve's 8" dob, my 10X50 binoculars and Mikes 5" dob. The comet is still a very easy binocular object. In the two telescopes, the comet's head was still very bright. There was a very short fan tail going away from the comet. We also noticed the comet moving very slowly against the background of stars.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 8.5, est. to be in Cygnus)
Observer: Giorgos Koronis (e-mail: giorgos.koronis@lies.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kalamata, Greece
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Sun May 23 23:06:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1007
Observed C/2004 K4 (Linear) with 8.8mm UWA eyepiece(104x).Brighter since my last observation.Estimated magnitude 8.5.With averted vision I suspected a starlike nucleus.No tail visible.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 4.0, est. to be in Cancer)
Observer: Michael Amato (e-mail: abigmick@aol.com)
Instrument: binoculars Location: West Haven, Connecticut, United States
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Fri May 21 01:00:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1000
Tonight, my friends Dave, Steve, Mike and I took another look at Comet Neat with our binoculars. The comet is still a very easy binocular target. Its brightness has faded only slightly but its size has seemed to shrink by about 25% as the comet continues to recede from the earth. We can still see a short tail on the comet.
Comet (Comet, est. mag 9, est. to be in Cygnus)
Observer: Giorgos Koronis (e-mail: giorgos.koronis@lies.com)
Instrument: 8-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Kalamata, Greece
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Thu May 20 00:10:00 2004 UT Obs. no.: 1001
Slowly sweeping near the star 15 Cygni I spotted again comet C/2003 K4 (Linear).I used a 10 mm plossl eyepiece (91x) on my 8" f/4.5 dob.It seemed brighter than during my previous observation.It was small,no tail visible,in a nice rich milkyway field.
View Observations | Add Observations
Help | Discussion | Acknowledgements
Questions? Problems? E-mail jbc@west.net
 |
Object database created with dObjects |  |
Logo created with Pixelsight |