Comet McNaught

[Robd]

Comet McNaught taken on 10th Jan. Taken with Pentax K10D and sigma 170 – 500 lens. The first 2 at 190mm and the last at 500mm. Lucky one this. I had picked up on dpreview site that the comet was due – followed links to location charts etc. So come the 10th it was clear so went out front to see if I could find it , sun setting to the right Venus in front comet some where between them. No. Went in for binos. Hunt round Venus - still no joy. Sue comes out – what are you doing – looking for a comet … I can’t see it…. Where is it …

Suddenly there it was – in the sky like a supa nova – no idea to this day how I missed it I can only assume that when I first started looking there was still too much sunlight. Anyway got about 20 mins viewing as it sank behind the hedgerow. In the first image it tracked from just above the larger of the two trees down to the hedge to the right of the right hand telegraph pole.

Focus and exposure was a right pain but I did manage to get a few decent images. Saw it briefly again on the 11th between banks of clouds but not enough for imaging.

Great pity that it was only visible for a few days in the UK.

Full image at 190mm followed by a crop to the comet

Edited to re-instate images

[dazza1639]

They're great, I love comets. I wonder when we'll get another bright one?

Darren