A farewell to C/2004 Q2 Machholz (May 02, 2005)

clic for 50% size 1763 x 1260 (400 kB)


About this Image

Comet Machholz Q2 now has reached 1.9 AU from the sun, cruising outside of the orbit of Mars. It still shines at a magnitude of 9.1, shows big coma and a diffuse tail of 0.5 degree. Within end of the year it will be at the distance of Jupiter and dimmed down to approx. mag 15.6.
north is left;

Below you find a crop on the center in 35/70% size.

clic for 70% size (275 kB)


Technical Details
Optics

410mm Cassegrain in prime focus at f/3

Mount MK-100 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -15C, internal filter wheel
Filters Astronomik LRGB
Date May 02, 2005 22:30 UT.
Location Wildon/Austria
Sky Conditions mag 5.5 sky, temperature 15 C
Exposure L:R:G:B = 25:5:5:5 min (5 min sub-exposures);
Processing Image aquisition in Maxim DL, calibration in ImagesPlus; center of nucleus aligned seperately and inserted to the star aligned image.
further processing, color balance, curves in Photoshop;