“This is how the Massive Marathon was invented.”

-Don Machholz

“I believe that moonlight is the real reason why Charles Messier missed M65 and M66.”

-Don Machholz

“I would rather be sweeping than sleeping”.

-Don Machholz

“Is it a bird, is it a plane? No kitty, that is the moon!”

-Don Machholz

“This is a good week to look at the moon.”

Don Machholz

“In 1922 the IAU named 88 constellations; this must have been number 89.”

-Don Machholz

“The winter constellations are here, ready for another season of viewing.”

Don Machholz

“This could produce a meteor shower on Venus.”

Don Machholz

“When Albert Einstein was a boy, if he ever did anything stupidly, did people say to him: ‘hey, way to go, Einstein!’?”

-Don Machholz

“Probably more penguins than people will see this eclipse. Those solar eclipse glasses will keep slipping off their ears.”

Don Machholz

“The Antarcitia solar eclipse is on December 4. If you intend to see it, you should be heading out the door about now.”

Don Machholz

“Well, I’m an astronomer, and to me a beautiful sunset sky has no clouds at all.”

Don Machholz

“The moon could fit inside the earth’s shadow if it wanted to.”

Don Machholz

“So now is a suitable time to see the gegenschein.”

Don Machholz

“Comets are scattered around the sky.”

Don Machholz

“Charles Messier lived some two hundred years ago in France,

from where he searched for comets, whenever he got the chance”

Don Machholz

“Why stop with our moon? Show them Jupiter and Saturn and their moons too. A multi-moon evening.”

Don Machholz

“We’ll know in two weeks, when communication with Mars resumes, if Martians have visited our rovers.”

Don Machholz

“If you have a group of observers with you, take bets.  The winner gets to choose which will be the next object to observe.”

Don Machholz

I’m a bit behind in reading my astronomy magazines. I just read that there will be a total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. Did I miss it?

Don Machholz

“Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Wow, who comes up with these names?”

-Don Machholz

“Nearly 90,000 days in one year, I wonder how many holidays they have?”

Don Machholz

“It is there, but can you see it?”

Don Machholz

“There is no end to the things that can be seen”.

Don Machholz

“This week Mira is at its brightest.”

Don Machholz

“Hey, this looks fuzzy, it must be a nebula”

Don Machholz

“M22 is one of the finest globular star clusters in the sky.”

Don Machholz

“So those are the three requirements for finding a comet: at the right place, at the right time and seeing faint enough to detect it.“

Don Machholz

“It is known as the double-double, sounds like something you would order at In-N-Out Burger”

Don Machholz

A lot of craters on the moon look like the letter “O”

– DON MACHHOLZ

What’s all that static on the radio?

-Don Machholz

“I came home that day, thought about it some more, and asked for a telescope for my birthday.”

-Don Machholz

Sometimes you hear someone say: “Wow, I can see my house from outer space.” I think what is more amazing is that I can see outer space from my house.

– Don Machholz

Do something to improve your eyesight, it is cheaper than buying a bigger telescope.

-Don Machholz

Venus and the moon together in our evening sky. A challenge worth a try.

Don Machholz

Maybe Santa will give the elves the day off.

– Don Machholz

I once owned a 2010 Equinox, but now we are talking about motorized vehicles. Let’s get back to the sky’s equinox, which travels much more slowly, and lasts longer.

-Don Machholz

At this point, you might say: “You call this an eclipse?”  Good call, the moon is barely inside the earth’s shadow.

– Don Machholz

The eyes alone are superior to the telescope for some types of viewing, such as watching meteor showers and learning the constellations.

– Don Machholz

The eclipse path for a lunar eclipse is big, about half the earth. Whoever can see the moon can see the lunar eclipse.

– Don Machholz

We have seen pictures of the moon’s back side, and believe me, we have the more interesting side.

– Don Machholz

There are more meteor showers than meets the eye.

– Don Machholz

We often think of space as a vacuum, well it isn’t. We’re here, aren’t we?

– Don Machholz

Take one planet a day and I’ll see you next week.

– Don Machholz

Astrology is not astronomy; astronomy does not care where the planets were when you were born. Astronomers are much more concerned about where they are tonight.

– Don Machholz

Yes, I’m a farmer too.

– DON MACHHOLZ

So, there you have it, Comet Twilight Time, sun -15 degrees.

DON MACHHOLZ

This weekend, March 13/14 the moon is new, and so it will not interfere with the marathon.

– Don Machholz

Amateur astronomers from around the world working around the clock to confirm a comet. It doesn’t get better than that.

– DON MACHHOLZ

How can you determine Universal Time? One way is to call Greenwich and ask them what time it is there.

Then some smart-aleck says: “I thought Tranquility base was a Hollywood soundstage”

Canis Minor, is a famous old-timer. It is trying, to stay up with Orion.

All they need to do is meow.

– DON MACHHOLZ

Time spent looking at the moon is never wasted time.

The locator is the terminator.  Now look on the dark side of this borderline to see the earthshine, which is reflected sunshine, why does this rhyme?

You can overcome some deficiencies with patient observing. And practice. The more you look, the more you see.

2021 is on your doorstep, asking you to come out and play.

But that 2080 Great Conjunction will be in 60 years, and I’ll talk more about it then, in Podcast 3174. Yea, right.

This is brought to you by the motions of the planets.

Unless we have a conjunction malfunction, this event could be the sky's goodbye to 2020

Maybe they should have called it Herschel.

Does that moon look funny to you, or is it just me?

That is a lot of time to find a comet, but then there is a lot of sky to cover!

Comets came from all over the place.

That's right, one eye looking through the telescope and one eye looking for meteors. Multi-task.

Once in a blue moon.

To see Mars well you have to look at it for a long time. Not just a peek. The more you look, the more you'll see.

Mars will be closest to the earth on October 6, when it will be 39 million miles from the United States, and 62 million kilometers from the rest of the world.

The further north you live, the greater the effect. So, Santa Claus, this one's for you!

Here is the surprising thing: 21 of the 26 individuals found their first comet during this decade, 1975 through 1984

William Bradfield of Australia get used to his name; he discovered 10 of the 33 comets covered in A Decade of Comets.

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I began to wonder: what am I missing?

Does everyone else know something that I don’t?

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This is the type of study that helped to direct comet hunters where to search.

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This pod is a dolphin name Delphinus

Hiding in the Milky Way, due to its shyness

Near the star Altair, one of the brightest

Up in the sky where there is no virus

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The constellation aim to know betta

Is the tiny arrow known as Sagitta

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An eyepatch makes you see less,

So that you can see more

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Comet NEOWISE left behind,

A trail of hope and joy combined.

A celestial gift to humankind, 

To help us through our daily grind.

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It’s not too late to realize,

the comet to see is NEOWISE

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“Comet NEOWISE stuck its head out from behind the sun and smiled at us.”

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A five-star rating for a seven-star cluster.

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Let’s hear it for the SOHO spacecraft

And the amazing things it has photographed.

With four thousand comets found

By those on the ground

Who scan images…

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It happens in 2020 on the 21st of June

When the sun in the sky gets hidden by the moon

The moon’s so far away it can’t cover the sun totally

So, a ring of fire will be visible locally

There will be no corona visible, at least not in the sky

You need a filter to see this or else you will burn your eye

The Congo is where it is first seen by those without myopia

Then through South Sudan and into Ethiopia

Mid-morning it visits Yemen and slide by Oman’s capital city

Filter it and take a look I bet it’s mighty pretty

Pakistan sees the sun assume the shape of a ring

Then onto northern India where the eclipse becomes “a thing”

Tibet is next then China, sharing this afternoon view

Something that everyone can look up to

Taiwan gets to jump on then the eclipse sinks into the ocean

A day of emotion, a moon in slow motion, proving Newton’s three laws of motion

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Look up this Hercules globular

Visible in your binocular

Known by many astronomer

Frequented by the photographer

That’s why it is so popular

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Look up to the north that’s Polaris

Sheltered in place its not careless

Neither setting nor risin’

Stuck above the horizon

With no place to…

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There once was a comet named ATLAS

Whose magnitude curve showed flatness

It fragmented and scattered

At the time it most mattered

And it…

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It’s right to learn Right Ascension

And declination requires your attention

They’ll take you to the place

In shallow or deep space

With little to no apprehension

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Learn the constellation Corvus

It’s not enormous

It represents a crow

Seen better from down below

From Spring into the summer

Then it’s gone, what a bummer!

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Go out tonight to see Arcturus,

Not as bright or blue as Sirius,

It’s in Boötes you see,

Above his left knee,

A sight to behold for the curious

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Unpredictable, inexplicable, once busted up, now busting out, gas and dust tail, small scale detail, written off as dead

Apparently it was misread

See Comet ATLAS, it is a splendid actress

What will it do next week, take a sneak peek

Will it be bright or bleak

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Podcast 14, Map 2

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Pleiades, Messier Marathon Search Sequence

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Podcast 4 Star Map 2

Podcast 4, Star Map 1

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Podcast 3 Star Map 1

Podcast 3 Star Map 2

Podcast 3 Star Map 1

Podcast 3 Comet Hunting for 2020, Hours and Comets

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Pod 0002 Star Map

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