Paul's Comet images

Comet Images

Comet Hale Bopp

Comet Hale Bopp lying between g (gamma) Andromedae & Algol in Perseus hangs over our house on April 7th 1997 - 50 mm F1.8 lens, 1600 ISO slide film and 25 seconds exposure. The two tails can be seen (fainter blue = ion tail, brighter white = dust tail). Note also the wonderful 'Double Cluster' at top right.

Comet Ikeya-Zhang 2002 C1

Comet Ikeya-Zhang 2002 C1 near the Andromeda galaxy
Having observed the comet with my WEA classes this was a real treat with a wonderfull tail several degrees long, here is a drawing I made of it when it was close to the Andromeda Galaxy M31 on April 4th 2002 at 22:05 BST (21:05 UT) using just a pair of 10X50 Binoculars. The drawing was made when I arrived home after making the observation from a layby near the small village of Benniworth as I was travelling home from the last meeting of my WEA Barnetby class. The background chart with stars to mag 10 was printed from the Graystel software I use and then I drew the comet and the galaxy. Because of the low haze I could not be sure of the second companion galaxy M110 so it was ommitted from the drawing and some of the fainter stars were also not visible but I have tried to be as faithful as possible to what I saw despite the delay in recording the view.
Another drawing of Comet Ikeya Zhang done a couple of days after the one above using the 10X50 binoculars. This time drawn from a grass roadside verge near Fulletby near Horncastle which had a great view of the comet. The tail seemed longer than on April 4th. Incidentally both drawings were originally done using a white printed chart (Greystel) and a pencil but were then scanned and turned into positive images using Paint Shop Pro software.

That night I also used the camera and took several unguided pictures on 1600 ISO slide film with a wide angle 28mm lens around 50 seconds at F2.8 (here) and a 50mm lens and 25 seconds exposure at F1.8 (right hand image) with an enlargement of the 50mm image below.

Comet Machholz 2004 Q2
Here is an image I managed to get on the night of January 2nd 2005 using a 135mm lens and the Webcam set on long exposure mode. It is a sum of several 10 second images combined using Registax.	And another I took on Tuesday evening January 4th 2005 and is a sum of 10 60 second exposures with the same set up as at left.
Comet Machholz close to the star cluster M45 (Pleiades) on the night of January 8th 2005 taken with the webcam and a 50mm lens and is a montage made from two main images summed from 10 exposures of 15 seconds each.
Comet 2006 P1 McNaught taken on January 10th 2007 page
Comet P17 Holmes Oct-Nov 2007 page

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Comet Hale Bopp
Comet Hale Bopp lying between g (gamma) Andromedae & Algol in Perseus hangs over our house on April 7th 1997 - 50 mm F1.8 lens, 1600 ISO slide film and 25 seconds exposure. The two tails can be seen (fainter blue = ion tail, brighter white = dust tail). Note also the wonderful 'Double Cluster' at top right.
Comet Ikeya-Zhang 2002 C1
Comet Ikeya-Zhang 2002 C1 near the Andromeda galaxy Having observed the comet with my WEA classes this was a real treat with a wonderfull tail several degrees long, here is a drawing I made of it when it was close to the Andromeda Galaxy M31 on April 4th 2002 at 22:05 BST (21:05 UT) using just a pair of 10X50 Binoculars. The drawing was made when I arrived home after making the observation from a layby near the small village of Benniworth as I was travelling home from the last meeting of my WEA Barnetby class. The background chart with stars to mag 10 was printed from the Graystel software I use and then I drew the comet and the galaxy. Because of the low haze I could not be sure of the second companion galaxy M110 so it was ommitted from the drawing and some of the fainter stars were also not visible but I have tried to be as faithful as possible to what I saw despite the delay in recording the view.	Another drawing of Comet Ikeya Zhang done a couple of days after the one above using the 10X50 binoculars. This time drawn from a grass roadside verge near Fulletby near Horncastle which had a great view of the comet. The tail seemed longer than on April 4th. Incidentally both drawings were originally done using a white printed chart (Greystel) and a pencil but were then scanned and turned into positive images using Paint Shop Pro software.
That night I also used the camera and took several unguided pictures on 1600 ISO slide film with a wide angle 28mm lens around 50 seconds at F2.8 (here) and a 50mm lens and 25 seconds exposure at F1.8 (right hand image) with an enlargement of the 50mm image below.