On Friday night, January 7th, Comet Machholz visits the Pleiades.
January 5, 2005: A cloud of gas bigger than the planet Jupiter, glowing alien green, is about to sweep past the Seven Sisters in Taurus. Got binoculars? You can watch it happen
Step outside on Friday night, January 7th, between 9 and 10 o'clock, and face south. There's Orion the Hunter locked in combat with Taurus the Bull. The star patterns are unmistakable. Just above them hovers a delicate little dipper--the Seven Sisters, a.k.a. the Pleiades. [sky map]
This is how the sky looks almost any evening in January. Except on January 7th there's something extra: the green cloud.
Look 2o to the right of the Pleiades. (If you live in the southern hemisphere, look to the left.) The tip of your pinky finger, held at arms length is about 1o wide, so 2o is two pinkies. The cloud resembles a faint and fuzzy star, barely visible to the unaided eye, but easy to see through binoculars.
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also Ferngläser etc bereithalten...
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2005/05jan_machholz.htm
mfg
Sir Ulli