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Comet Machholz 2005
Comet Machholz was visible in the sky in 2005. It was discovered by Don Machholz in August. The comet was seen as a diffuse patch with a star like nucleus and, in December, no discernable tail. It was at about magnitude 5, faintly visible to the naked eye.
![[Comet Machholz 4th Jan 2005]](./images/comet_Machholz_05-01-04_dgd.jpg)
![[Comet Machholz 17th Dec 2004]](./images/comet_Machholz_04-12-17.jpg)
During early January 2005, Comet Machholz climbed steadily through the southern sky up into the constellation of Taurus and on the evening of Jan 8th it was to be seen in the same low power field as the Pleiades star cluster.
Observing from the darker skies of Weston Colville in Cambs., Terry Pearce managed to obtain some beautiful images of the comet when it was close to the Pleiades.
![[Terry's first picture of Machholz]](./images/comet_Machholz_05-01-04.jpg)
![[Terry Pearce Vs Comet Machholz (Round 2)]](./images/comet_Machholz_05-01-08.jpg)
Terry used a Canon SLR 35mm film camera mounted piggyback on a small equatorial telescope for the 5 minute guided exposures. The images were captured on 400 ASA Fujichrome colour print film. The negatives were scanned and then processed in a computer using Adobe Photoshop.
Doug Daniels