Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz), January 18th, 2005

A GIF animation of the comet's movement during 139 minutes. File size 2.4 MB, so it may take a while to load. See also a higher-resolution version of an indiviual image taken from this exposure series. The comet was moving fast, so stars are elongated even in individual 10-minute exposures. The autoguider was trained on the comet's core. The slight decrease in brightness of all objects within the image during the animation is due to the decreasing altitude of the comet during the exposure series, the background brightening was compensated for.

If the animation does not run smoothly in your web browser, you can save it to your harddisk and view it from there.

Exposure Data

Instrument: 4.9" f/3.8 Wright-Newtonian
F/stop: 3.8
Exposure: 13 x 10 minutes
Camera: Modified Nikon D70 Digital SLR
Sensitivity: ISO 1600
Animation duration: 1:32 - 3:51 MEZ
Date: January 18, 2005
Location: Ebenwaldhöhe, Lower Austria
Conditions: Visual limiting magnitude 6.2 mag, seeing 1-2, temperature 0°C, no wind, low humidity
Autoguider: Meade Pictor 216 XT, max. error: 1
Enhancement: Adobe Photoshop CS 8.0
Notes: Autoguiding on the comet's core worked well. Field size 2°53' x 1°48'; north is up, east to the left. A Schmidt lens reflex of the brightest star within the image can be seen at right and below the center, and a rotating satellite moved across the field of view.