# Anyone seen the latest comet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 14, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-the-latest-comet/284705 "2005-01-14T13:57:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-the-latest-comet/284705/1 "2005-01-14T13:57:44Z")
[Comet Machholz](http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/comet_machholz_041207.html) is currently the nearest celestial body to us, after the Moon, at 30-odd million miles. We had a nice clear night here last night for a change, so I had a look at the [location map](http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.asp?cid=C%2F2004+Q2&lat=51.517&lng=-0.105&alt=18&loc=London&TZ=GMT) on Heavens Above and went looking for it. Once my eyes had got used to the darkness, there it was. It was one of those things that tend to disappear if you look straight at them, but looking to one side I could see a fuzzy smear of light in the right spot 🆒 If only I’d kept that big ol’ telescope I gave my mother for Christmas a year ago. Anyone had a good look at this thing? Oh, Saturn was really bright and high in the sky, too. Strange to think that one of our space probes has [just plopped onto one of its moons](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5718032#post5718032)… ---
**Author:** ![robz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@robz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robz)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-seen-the-latest-comet/284705/2 "2005-01-14T14:28:53Z")
I was following it in early December, but other than a quick look in bino’s last Sat its been too cloudy here in Eastern Pa. In my Telescope its pretty big and fuzzy. Tonight it is supposed to be clearing so I’ll be looking RobZ