Comet NEAT Q4 was one of the major comets of the year 2004 and became bright enough to be an easy naked-eye target, although its tail was not very spectacular. Also, during the period of its greatest brightness at the beginning of May, observations were often hampered due to bad weather in Austria. None-the-less, this was the best comet since Comet Ikeya-Zhang in 2002.

The above image was taken on May 17th shortly before midnight, the comet was near to the horizon as clouds hindered observations earlier that evening. It was actually taken during a test session for the Nikon D70 DSLR and the 4.9" JSO Wight-Newton, and worked out quite well.

In the photograph you can see the comet's coma, the slightly green-turquoise shock front which points towards the sun, and multiple tails. The long, straight and bundled tail starting near the core is the white-blue "plasma tail" which extends beyond the edge of the frame and consists of charged particles. The broad tail is called the "dust tail" and consists of dust particles which are set free by the sublimation of ice on the surface of the comet's nucleus. Part of it angles away from the plasma tail towards the bottom.

Background stars are nearly star-like but on closer inspection are revealed as small lines due to the comet's fast movement during the 5.6-minute exposure. North is up and slightly to the left. The image's diagonal measures about 3 degrees on the sky.

Click here to read an observation report about NEAT Q4 (in German).