Tonight has been a strange one. One minute it was "cats and dogging it down" (i.e. raining heavily) and then it was beautiful crisp, clear night. I couldn't miss out on this so I got out some more powerful binoculars I had with me. WOW! I got a fantastic view of the Orion Nebula (M42) and the regions around it. De Mairan's Nebula, part of Orion Nebula (M43) looked clear as well. Was wonderful.
I then went comet hunting in the orange, light polluted skies of Birmingham. I managed to (with my mom) see the Comet C/2004 Q2 - otherwise known as Comet Machholz. It wasn't as clear as I would have hoped but it was identifiable as a comet. I am going to observe this as often as possible and hopefully in early January get an even better view.
As always the sky was full of lots of treasurers. I turned my attention to one of my favourite objects - M42, the seven sisters and then down to the Hyades. I then did a general look around the sky to see what else I could see but I ended up spending more time looking at Comet Machholz.
More:
+ Comet Machholz - http://www.krioma.net/blog/archives/2004_12_15.php#000462
+ Orion Nebula - http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m042.html
+ De Mairan's Nebula - http://www.seds.org/messier/m/m043.html
