A break in the clouds on New Year's Day at 1:20am allowed me to take some wide field shots of Comet Machholz with my Canon Digital Rebel on a tripod.   A few wispy clouds remained and the nearly 3rd quarter moon was in the east, but the pictures still came out!   I decided to post a couple just for the fun of it.

Comet Machholz setting in the west from my backyard on 1/1/05.  Canon Digital Rebel, 1600 ISO, 70mm F/4 (112mm Effective F.L.,) 1x10sec,  Post processing included level adjustment to remove light pollution and adjust color balance.

Comet Machholz, C/2004 Q2, the Pleiades and part of the Taurus constellation are visible in this wide field view taken 1/1/05.  Canon 300D, 1600 ISO, 28mm F/2.8 (44.8mm Effective) and a 10 second exposure..