Posts Made By: Maurice Clark

Hummmmmm............

A new CCD....................

A major outburst resulting in a naked eye comet........

So NOW the drought in Maryland decides to break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :C

Clouds... clouds.... and still more clouds.......... AAARRRGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!

@$#$%$%&$&#%^&@$&#^&^*@$%%!%# Murphy!!!!!! stomp... stomp... stomp....! mumble.... mumble.... mumble......

Maurice

PS: I suppose I should apologise to other observers in the Maryland area for causing all this bad weather!!!!!

Hi all,

Another image from Saturday night. This time it is a combination of 100, 5 second images, 16" f/10 LX200 and STL-1001E.

Using the apparent diameter from this photo, the actual diameter of the coma works out to be about 960,000 km.... not much smaller than the Sun!!!!!!! 8O

Cheers,

Maurice

Hi Lee,

Here is an excerpt from the MPC website on the naming of asteroids, which should help in the answering of your question.

There are prohibitions against suggesting names of individuals, places or events with military or political connections unless at least 100 years have passed since the individual died or the event occurred. This means that names from the 20th century's two World Wars are not yet acceptable. Names that are offensive are also disallowed.

Other than those restrictions, almost any other type of name is acceptable.

Cheers,

Maurice

Hi Enrique,

Here is one website that I use a lot: http://www.aerith.net/

A wonderful resource for the comet observer.

Cheers,

Maurice

Hi Rod,

You do not know the half of it. Not only have the aussies kicked out the liberals, it also appears they have also kicked out Howard from the seat he has held for 33 years! The first prime minister to lose his seat in 78 years!!!! It has been a massive win to the labor party. They have turned a 16 seat deficit into a 26 seat majority.

One thing I would disagree with you though, is the effect Bush had on the aussie election. While it is true that most Australians have no time for Bush, the election was won on aussie issues. Howard lost because he had ceased to listen to the Australian public, was more interested in ideology than good government, introduced totally pro-business industrial workplace laws, lied to the Australian public, and was extremely arrogant.

In addition to the utter dislike of Howard, the Labor party under Rudd conducted a very professional election campaign, promising a positive look to the future. This is something that your Democratic party should take note of. It is not enough just to point out your opponent's failures, you must also offer a viable alternative.

You might find it interesting to see just what some aussies are saying about this result. The link below with take you to the (aussie) ABC election news website. Scroll down and you will find lots of very interesting comments from aussies worldwide.

Cheers,

Maurice

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/25/2100405.htm

Hi Ron,

Interesting thread, here are my "top ten".

10: Seeing NGC 5128 with the naked eye for the first time.
9: Seeing shadows cast by the Milky Way in Sagittarius for the first time.
8: The carina Milky Way in 80mm binoculars. So many nebulae and clusters!!!!
7: NGC 3372 in a 17.5" telescope and a 20mm Nagler. The detail is unbelievable.
6: eta carina in a 17.5" telescope and 4.7mm Nagler. The homunclus(sp?) nebula really did look like a tiny person!
5: M83 in a 17.5" telescope and 9mm Nagler when close to the zenith.
4: My first total solar eclipse.
3: Comet Wilson March 1987. A naked eye comet in the same field as a naked eye nebula in another galaxy (NGC 2070) and in the same field as a naked eye supernova. When did that last happen!!!
2: Saturn through my 18" starmaster under perfect seeing!

And my all-time number 1....................

Comet Halley, Naked eye, April 25 1986. A night of full moon!

This might seem a strange observation for me to consider number one, however that night the moon was completely full... ie there was a total lunar eclipse that night. as the moon rose, it was so bright that very little could be seen of the comet. But about 2 hours after sunset, the moon began to disappear into the Earth's shadow. as it steadily became darker, more and more of the comet and its tail became visible.. it was like the comet was growing a tail! Then when totality finally came, the comet was high in the sky with a 35 degree plus tail gently curving past the eclipsed moon, which was lower to the horizon. it was like a huge curving sword in the sky with a drop of blood falling from the end!

Cheers

Maurice

Hi Greg,

Very nice image.

One nitpick though. Several portions of the nebula are visible in a telescope. I have seen quite a few. One of the more famous is "Herschel's Arrow" AKA NGC 2736.

Cheers

Maurice

Hi Henry,

Fantastic image! Shows the huge size of the comet very well.

Maurice

Hi all,

The first close-up image of Mercury from MESSENGER has been released.

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/pics/EN0108821483M.png

Cheers,

Maurice

Hi Rod,

Not sure if you are referring to the win the other day by Bill Foster, but if you are it is encouraging in another way. Bill is a scientist... a physicist who amongst other places has worked at Fermilab.

Nice to see someone with a brain get elected for once.

Cheers,

Maurice

PS: before anyone thinks that I am having a go at USA pollies..... I wish the ozzie parliament would get someone intelligent for once!!!! Quite frankly, the world over, pollies all seem to be a bunch of sleazebags for the most part!

PPS: as an aside, did anyone else notice the election result on Malaysia over the weekend. Major shock for the ruling party! Not before time either. Their policies are incredibly racist. My chinese and Indian friends living there are all rejoicing!