27th February 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium Moon and Sky glow filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3: 44 x 60 second frames (gain 0%)

Stacked using Registax 3

The comet is getting much harder to find in the eyepiece now. I had to process this quite heavily to reveal the tail, which is again very faint.
This was a trick imaging session as the clouds kept rolling in. Out of the 200 or so taken, I managed to salvage 44.

19th February 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium Moon and Sky glow filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3: 54 x 60 second frames (gain 0%)

Stacked using Registax 3

Again the comet is smaller and fainter at the eypiece. The tail is more prominent each time I image.
Remarkable considering the light pollution and the bright moonlight.

14th February 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium Moon and Sky glow filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3: 71 x 66 second frames (gain 0%)
Vesta SC1: 20 x 33 second frames (gain 50%)

Stacked using Registax 3

The comet is smaller but the tail is becoming more noticeable, if still faint. I took a second set of frames in colour and added the colour component to the image using Serif PhotoPlus 8

13th February 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium Moon and Sky glow filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3: 81 x 44 second frames

Stacked using Registax 3

The comet is now starting to noticeably shrink in size as it moves much further away from the earth. However as it gets smaller the tail is becoming more noticeable, if still faint.

This was the first clear night in a couple of weeks.

16th January 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium Moon and Sky glow filter
Light Polution Rejection Filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3: 23 x 60 second frames

Stacked using Registax 3

The tail is slightly easier to see, I could see a very vague impression of the tail on the individual frames. The core isn't quite so burnt out in this image. Due to cloud rolling in I was unable to get any more frames.

16th January 2005

This is the same image as above but processed in a different way.

13th January 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium Moon and Sky glow filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3: 105 x 44 second frames

Stacked using Registax 3

The tail on this comet is proving very difficult to image. Again the ion tail is barely visible. The heavy processing has burnt out the core or the comet

11th January 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodynium Moon and Skyglow filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3: 59 x 33 second frames

Stacked using Registax 3

The sky cleared a little too late to get a good image of the comet. I was plagued by light polution and clouds and in my rush to set up I wasn't as careful about focus as I usually am. The heavy processing and lack of visible tail are the result.

10th January 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodynium Moon and Skyglow filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3: 45 x 33 second frames

Vesta SC1: 40 x 45 second frames

Stacked using Registax 3

Colour componant only used from the Vesta SC1 images - combined in Serif PhotoPlus 8

January 10th 2005

Details as above but without the colour component.

This is my best image of the comet to date. The comet's tail has proved very difficult to image especially from my light polluted suburban environment. You can just make out the ion tail faning out to the left. The dust tail is apparent below the comet. However this tail is essentially behind the comet from earths view point and therefore doesn't appear to be very long.
The comet came closest to earth on the 5th of January at a distance of 32,256,000 miles. . It does continue to get closer to the sun, reaching perihelion on  the 24th Jan when it will reach 1.203AU (112,019,920 miles), remaining outside earth's orbit. As a result the tail may continue to develop as the comet recedes from the earth.

8th January 2005

28mm Pentax camera lens
Mogg IR filter

Vesta SC3: 45 x 33 second frames

Stacked using Registax 3

8th January 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium Moon and Skyglow filter
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3:

Stacked using Registax 3

5th January 2005

28mm Pentax camera lens
Mogg IR filter

Vesta SC3: 45 x 33 second frames

Stacked using Registax 3

5th January 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3:

Stacked using Registax 3

Same image as above

Larson-Sekanina filter applied using Astro Art to bring out the tail.

4th January 2005

80mm f5 Konus Refractor
Baader IR-UV filter
Baader Neodymium
Mogg 0.6 focal reducer
Effective focal length = approx 250mm

Vesta SC3:

Stacked using Registax 3

26th December 2004

50mm Pentax camera lens
Baader IR-UV filter

Vesta SC3:

Stacked using Registax 3