Tails of Machholz 05/02/05 - Eric Walker

Comet Machholz taken between 2100h and 2130h on Saturday 05 February 2005 looking north-west from my back-garden in Conon Bridge. Nikon Coolpix 5700 piggy-backed onto motorised drive tripod. Four images taken at full optical zoom of 71mm for 300 secs. each, f/4.2, ISO 800. The images were stacked using Registax and processed using Adobe Photoshop CS. I had to invert, un-sharpen mask, and contrast-enhance the image to get the tails to this degree of visibility. The comet is high up in the sky, just past the zenith and is about magnitude 5. It is easily seen with binoculars, and to the naked eye if you avert your vision slightly. The comet is currently heading towards Camelopardalis from Cassiopeia. The stars in the image can easily be identified using star map software such as Starry Night Enthusiast by entering the observing latitude and longitude, and time of observation. www.astrophotos.plus.com