COMET MACHHOLZ '05
Comet Machholz, formally designated C/2004 Q2, is a comet discovered by Donald
Machholz on August 27, 2004. It reached naked eye brightness in January 2005. This
was my first comet to photograph and it was really thrilling to watch it move across the
sky over the course of several months. This picture was the best one I was able to get.
Taken Feb. 2005 from Thaxton, VA using Fuji Provia 400F pushed 1 stop. This is a 10
minute exposure at f4 shot through a Nikon FE2 and a Nikon 105mm f2.5 lens
piggybacked on a SV78S Blackhawk. All were riding on a Losmandy GM-8 and manually
guided. Scanned by Tony Hallas at 4000 dpi/16 bit. Processed entirely in PixInsight SE.