2015 Banquet

Don Machholz, aka The Comet Hunter, will be joining us this year as our speaker.

 

Born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1952, Don Machholz, found his interest in astronomy at the early age of 8 and by thirteen had his first telescope, a 2-inch refractor. It wasn’t much later that he located all the Messier Objects utilizing a 6-inch Criterion Dynascope given to him by his parents.

 

Don entered the United States Army in 1971, working as a meteorological observer during the day and continued viewing astronomical objects by night. In the early 70’s astrophotography was popular and while stationed in Yuma, Arizona he photographed some of his first objects that were subsequently published in astronomy magazines.

 

By the mid 70’s he developed a mapping system that assisted him with comet hunting and after 1700 hours of searching, he visually discovered his first comet on September 12, 1978.

 

Machholz is considered to be one of the inventors of the Messier marathon, which is a race to observe all theMessier objects in a single night and has completed 45 marathons in the past 35 years.

 

An author of several publications, “A Decade of Comets,” (1985) a study of the visual comet discoveries between 1975 and 1984, “An Observer’s Guide to Comet Hale-Bopp,” (1996),  “The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon,” (2002) Cambridge University Press, a list of one hundred and ten galaxies, star clusters and nebulae, and includes many of the brightest and best-known objects in the sky, and from 1978 until 2000 Machholz authored a monthly column titled, “Comet Comments.” From 1978 until 2000 on behalf of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers he was the Comets Recorder.

 

Machholz is the most successful living visual comet hunter in the world, being credited with the discovery of 11 comets, including the periodic comets 96P/Machholz, 141P/Machholz, the non-periodic C/2004 Q2(Machholz) that was easily visible in binoculars in the northern sky in 2004 and 2005, and most recently, C/2010 F4 (Machholz).

 

Machholz works as a real estate appraiser and lives in Colfax, California with his wife, Michele, and they have three sons.

 

Location

We will having this year's banquet at The Swedish Club in the Svea Room located on the main floor.

 Parking

FREE parking is available on the backside of the Swedish Club.

Agenda

• 5PM – Happy Hour
• 6PM – Buffet
  • Pork Loin
  • Poached Cod
  • Tortollini (vegetarian)
• 7PM – Don Machholz, The Comet Hunter

Menu

Please note dinner is a buffet, and includes:

• Main
• Pork Loin, stuffed with Apples and Prunes
• Red Cabbage
• Pickled Cucumber Salad
• Lingonberries
• Poached Cod Filets
  • Dill Sauce
• Tortollini (vegetarian)
• New Potatoes
• Vegetables
• Salad
• Dessert
• Fruit Crisp with Ice Cream; and,
• Coffee