Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)

Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) was one of the most memorable comets of the mid-2000s, discovered by Donald Machholz in August 2004. It became a bright and easily observable comet in early 2005, when it passed close to Earth and reached naked-eye visibility. At its peak, it shone around magnitude 3–4, making it a striking sight even in small telescopes and binoculars.

The comet displayed a bright green coma, characteristic of diatomic carbon emission, and developed a distinct ion tail stretching several degrees across the sky. Its trajectory carried it high into the northern sky, passing near well-known constellations such as Taurus, Orion, and Perseus, making it a favorite target for astrophotographers.

I photographed Comet Machholz in 2005 using my DSLR setup from my own backyard. The image processing was done with Fitswork, Photoshop and PixInsight. The result was as follows:

The images were taken with the following equipment:

• Date: 2005
• Location: Krefeld, Germany
• Telescope: Tamron 28-300 mm lens
• Focal length [mm]: 300
• Focal ratio: 6.3
• Mount: Skywatcher HEQ-5
• Camera: Canon 300 Da
• Filter: OSC
• Exposure time [min]: 5
• Resolution: 5.39″/px