On 8/27/04, Donald Machholz discovered a new comet that now bears his name.  It is the 10th comet he has discovered.  He used an old 6 inch Criterion Dynascope reflector telescope to spot this object.  This guy gives hope to all the amateur astronomers out there with small telescopes!  

Comet Machholz is a naked eye object if you have very dark skies as of 12/5/04.  It is easier to see in binoculars, however.   It is moving on a northerly course to the right (west) of Orion.  This comet will give a pretty good show over the next couple of months.  It might not be one the general public will appreciate, but amateur astronomers most certainly will get a kick out of viewing and photographing it!

Comet Machholz, C/2004 Q2, just after midnight local time on 12/13/04  - 3 minutes with a 280mm f4.2 35mm equivalent lens and 200 ISO equivalent film speed.

Greyscale negative showing ion tail slightly better.

Location of Comet Machholz relative to the Orion constellation on 12/13/04.

I used my new Nikon Coolpix 8700 to take the above pictures.  It was mounted on top of my C-8 telescope, which was used to guide the exposures. The original 8 megapixel files were cropped and some enhancements in Paint Shop Pro were done, mainly to adjust the sky background color and minimize the grain effect.

I am sorry to report that a short while after I took these pictures and downloaded the files to my computer, all my camera equipment was stolen from my home by someone who broke in while I was sleeping.   I had left it all right by the door in 2 equipment bags and they just walked in and grabbed them.   They even got my 35mm Nikon film camera and my precious 300mm f/4 ED Nikon lens. They did not steal my telescope, thank God.   All I have now is my Toucam Pro webcam, which unfortunately in its present state is only good for planetary astrophotography. 

Hopefully, I'll be able to buy a new camera to take more pictures of Comet Machholz before the show it will put on over the next couple of months is over.