Comets

Welcome to my comet photography pages! 

The links in the menu at left will take you to my rather modest comet photographs.  I have very basic imaging equipment and am pretty much limited to wider fields taken with a Canon 400D, unless of course it's a Great Comet like C/2006 P1 McNaught!  You'll find some useful comet links with all the latest news in the right hand column.  For those who would like an introduction to comets - the what, why and where - click here. 
 
MENU:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

P/2009 L2 (Yang-Gao)

C/2009 K5 (McNaught)

 
*NEW* 11 Apr 2012

C/2009 E1 (Itagaki)

C/2008 T2 (Cardinal) 

C/2008 Q3 (Garradd)

P/2008 Q2 (Ory)

C/2008 C1 (Chen-Gao)

C/2008 A1 (McNaught)

C/2007 W1 (Boattini)

C/2007 T1 (McNaught)

C/2007 Q3 (Siding Spring)

C/2007 N3 (Lulin)

C/2007 G1 (LINEAR)

C/2007 F1 (LONEOS)

C/2006 W3 (Christensen) 

C/2006 Q1 (McNaught)

C/2006 P1 (McNaught)

 
 

205P Giacobini

169P NEAT

144P Kushida

118P Shoemaker-Levy

 

88P Howell

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Asteroid 596 Scheila exhibits comet-like activity, December 2010:
 
 

All comets were imaged from Bright, Victoria, Australia (36.7°S, 147°E) unless otherwise stated...

 

SOME VISUAL OBSERVATIONS....

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SEEKING SUNGRAZERS
 
A basic guide to Earth-based visual and/or photographic searches for sungrazing comets:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy), 17:00, 26 December 2011 UT.  The Great Christmas Comet of 2011.
Canon 400D, 18mm, 3 x 2-min, ISO 1600, F/4.5
 
 
Comet C/2009 P1 (Garradd), 30 August 2011
 
 
Comet 103P Hartley, imaged just after the close fly-by encounter by NASA's EPOXI mission spacecraft on 4 November 2010
 

Comet C/2008 Q3 Garradd passing galaxy Centaurus A,

10-11 June 2009

2-image composite. Piggybacked Canon 400D @ 200mm, tracked with RA drive on EQ1 mount.

http://astronomy.fm/aapod/2009-06-15_Comet-C2008-Q3-(Garradd)-and-galaxy-Centaurus-A.html

 

 

Comet 88P Howell passing close to Antares, M4, NGC 6144 and Al Niyat

6 October 2009

Piggybacked Canon 400D, 200mm, 9 x 75 sec

http://astronomy.fm/aapod/2009-10-21_Comet-88P-Howell-near-Antares.html

 

 

Comet C/2006 N3 Lulin passing Saturn & Regulus,

22 February - 1 March 2009

22-image composite with added foreground.  Piggybacked Canon 400D @ 55mm, hand guided. 1MB download
 
Honorable Mention, 2010 David Malin Awards,
Widefield Solar System category.

 

Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught

15 January 2007

Imaged with Celestron NexImage webcam through 4.5" f8 reflector

 

Comet C/2007 W1 Boattini

2 June 2008

Piggybacked Canon 400D @ 134mm, hand guided.

 

Comet 17P Holmes

28 December 2007

Canon 400D @ 18mm, hand-guided

 

COMET LINKS:

Elements & ephemerides of observable comets:

ephemerides

 

ICQ comet information web site:

ICQ

 

Seiichi Yoshida's Home Page - updated comet information:

Comets

 
 
SOHO comets, latest news:
 

 

BAA Comet Section:

BAA

 

Comet Section of Germany:

kometen

 
SOME INTERESTING SITES:
 
 
An incredible gallery of comet images by Michael Jaeger, going back to 1983:
 
 

Maik Meyer's site:

comethunter

 

Gary Kronk's site:

cometography

 

Bernhard Haeusler's site:

Comet Project

 

Martin McKenna's site:

nightskyhunter

 

Alan Hale's site:

Countdown to 500 Comets

 

Juan Jose Gonzalez's site:

Comets in Twilight

 

Michael Mattiazzo's sites:

 

Terry Lovejoy's galleries:

comet photos

 
 
TECH GROUPS:
(Membership required)
 
 
Latest comet observations:
 
 
 
 
Comet discussions, news:
 
 
 
 
Minor Planet Mailing List, comets & asteroids:
 
 
 
 
For all who are interested in comets:
 
 
 
 
Astronomical Society of Victoria, Comet Section:
 
 
 
 
Searching for comets on SOHO images:
 
 
 
 
 
GENERAL:

 

Comets:

Wikipedia

 

Great Comets:

Bright Comet Chronicles

 

Brightest comets since 1935: