Older news items

Bright Supernova 2011fe in M101

This supernova in nearby M101 was discovered on August 24, 2011 by the Palomar Transient Factory at magnitude 17. Spectroscopy showed that it was of type Ia in a very early stage, indicating that with an expected maximum brightness near magnitude 10 it might become the brightest supernova for Northern Hemisphere observers in several decades. The above image on the left shows the SN (indicated with a red arrow) on the evening of August 27 (stack of 2 120s images), when it had already brightened to about magnitude 12-12.5. The image to the right (stack of 10 60s images) shows it on September 15 around 19h30m UT near magnitude 10.0, close to or shortly after maximum brightness. Both images were obtained by Albert van Duin (Beilen, NL) with a 40-cn F/4 Newtonian reflector, equiped with a QSI583wsg CCD camera.

Noctilucent Clouds July 10, 2011


After our observing session of July 9/10 in Burlage we were surprised to see a strong display of NLC low over the northern horizon.

While I was driving home and enjoying the view, Edwin took the opportunity to make a few photographs.

The image to the right (one of the best of the series) was obtained on July 10 at 00h44m UT.
It is a 13s exposure with a 55mm/f/5.6 lens on a Canon 350D, set at ISO400.

Very favourable apparition of 103P/Hartley 2 !

This comet was discovered by Malcolm Hartley on images taken in March 1986 with the 1.2m Schmidt telescope of Siding Spring Observatory. It was then a 17th magnitude object, already 9 months past perihelion [click here for a 15x15' field from the DSS discovery plate]. Because of its small perihelion distance near 1.0 AU, due to a close approach to Jupiter in 1971 (0.085 AU), and another one in 1982 (0.326 AU), it was well observed by visual observers during its rather favourable apparitions in 1991 and 1997/98 when on both occasions it became a binocular object.

This year's apparition is an extremely favourable one with perihelion (at 1.059 AU from the Sun) on October 28, close to opposition. 103P will approach Earth to 0.121 on October 21. It is then visible all night for Northern Hemisphere observers, after reaching a maximum declination of +56.8° on October 7.

Over the last weeks the comet has been brightening fairly rapidly to 5th magnitude, but it is still somewhat fainter than expected. However, it may still reach about magnitude 4.5 at the end of October.
A few observers at very dark locations have been able to spot 103P with the naked eye, but it probably should be easier to see with the naked eye in the second half of October and in early November as a large diffuse object with a diameter somewhere between 0.5 and 1 degree. It should be noted though that the full Moon (on October 23) will interfere during the comet's time of closest approach to the Earth. Also its path through the Milky Way (Auriga and Gemini) during this period will occasionally cause interference from bright stars.

For visual observers we have charts available with proper comparison stars.

The image to the right was obtained by Odd Trondahl from Oslo, Norway on November 5, 2010.

This was about 12 hours after the succesful passage of the EPOXI spacecraft some 700 km from the nucleus of this comet.
Full details are on the image.
An animated gif from 55 20s images can be viewed here.

More images can be viewed here in our 103P image gallery.


Reinder Bouma, updated November 11, 2010

Noctilucent Clouds in 2010.


Sofar this year has been a fairly poor one for NLC's with only two minor displays, on June 15/16 and 25/26.

The image to the right was obtained on the evening of June 25 by Edwin near his home in Burlage, Germany. It is a 1.6s exposure in strong twilight with a Canon 350D, set at ISO1600.

C/2009 K5 (McNaught)

This comet is currently (and over the coming weeks) a nice 8th magnitude object, favourably placed for northern hemisphere observers. It is moving rather fast to the north through Cygnus and Cepheus, pasing only 6 degrees from Polaris around May 18. By that time it probably has faded slightly, to about magnitude 9.

The (binned and cropped) image to the right was obtained on April 7, 2010 by Onkar Dixit with the 60 cm f/4 telescope of Triebenberg Observatory near Dresden, Germany. It is a stack of 30 60s images (10 each in R, G and B).

Click here for the full resolution [4096x4096 pixels, 3 MB download!] image.

Impact on Jupiter

On July 19 Australian amateur Anthony Wesley discovered a deep black scar in Jupiter's southern polar region, which proved to be another impact site, probably from a rather small comet or asteroid, almost 15 years to the day after the spectacular impacts of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragments.

The image to the right was obtained on July 25, around 02h07m UT by Dutch astrophotographer Jan Koet with an Astro Physics 180EDT F/9 and Meade Barlow 5000 3x, equipped with a DMK31 camera. The impact site is well visible near the edge of Jupiter.




The second image was taken with the same equipment on August 3 around 23h31m UT. The impact site has now become clearly elongated under the influence of strong Jovian winds. The satellite to the right is Europa.

In the meantime the impact scar has been spread out further, and has virtually disappeared from view.

Sarychev Peak sunsets

After the fine displays of 'vulcanic' sunsets last year we have been treated again over the last couple of days. This time they are due to an outburst by Sarychev Peak in Russia on June 12. Unfortunately, the displays have not been that colourful, but the presence of typical dirty-yellowish bands over the northwestern horizon shortly after sunset was very obvious. Also a faint purple-reddish hue was faintly visible for a short while some 20-30 minutes after sunset.

Images of the displays of July 1, 2 and a minor display on the 11th can be viewed here.

C/2007 N3 (Lulin) on the way out.

Comet 2007 N3 (Lulin) now is clearly past its best, but is still favourably placed in the evening sky (although rapidly fading) over the coming weeks for both northern and southern hemisphere observers.

The image to the right was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on March 17, 2009. It is a stack of 30 120s exposures taken between 19:01 and 20:07 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO800, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

Click here for the full resolution image.

29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 1 unusually active.

Since becoming visible in the morning sky in September 2008 29P has been unusually active. Several big outbursts made it at times as bright as 10th magnitude, and up till now it has been observable visually continuously. Which as far as I can remember is unprecedented. It is now well placed in the evening sky in Gemini, and observable for both northern and southern hemisphere observers.

The image to the right showing several jet-like stuctures was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on January 30, 2009. It is a stack of 30 120s exposures taken between 21:54 and 23:02 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

144P/Kushida is bright!

During December 144P/Kushida brightened much faster than anticipated, and is now easily visible in larger binoculars as a large diffuse object of about magnitude 8½. Over the coming weeks it will probably start fading slowly. It is now well placed in the evening sky for both northern and southern hemisphere observers.

The image to the right was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on January 24, 2009. It is a stack of 13 120s exposures taken between 22:36 and 23:05 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

Click here for the full resolution image.

C/2008 T2 (Cardinal) slowly brightening.

Currently C/2008 T2 is still slowly brightening, only visible with large telescopes at about magnitude 12½, but over the coming months it is expected to brighten to magnitude 9-10 around the time of perihelion in June 2009. During this time it is best visible for northern hemisphere observers being well placed high in the evening sky.

The image to the right (shown at full resolution) was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on December 27, 2008. It is a stack of 20 120s exposures taken between 21:07 and 21:52 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

Comet 2006 OF2 (Broughton)

Over the coming months comet 2006 OF2 (Broughton) is still very favourably placed for northern hemisphere observers. During December it continued to brighten and is currently about magnitude 10.

The image to the right was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on December 27, 2008. It is a stack of 20 120s exposures taken between 22:37 and 23:24 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

Click here for the full resolution image.

Comet 2006 W3 (Christensen)

Comet 2006 W3 (Christensen) continued to brighten over the last couple of month, and is already 10th magnitude with still over 8 months to go to perihelion! It is currently very favourably placed for northern hemisphere observers.

The new image to the right was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on October 22, 2008. It is a stack of 10 180s exposures taken between 18:03 and 18:36 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

Click here for the full resolution image.

Kasatochi sunsets

On the evening of August 30, 2008 we witnessed a colourful sunset thanks to material trown high up in the atmosphere in a recent outburst of Kasatochi, a vulcano on one of the Aleutian islands.

The image to the right shows the display at its peak around 18h50m UT. The show started shortly before local sunset when rather suddenly banded clouds, looking like a cross between cirrus and noctilucent clouds, appeared over the western horizon. Over the next 30 minutes these bands gradually changed colour, first to a yellowish, then reddish hue, until around 18:45 - 18:50 UT the whole western sky showed bright red to purple colours.
After 18:50 UT however, the colours started to disappear quickly and shortly after 19:00 UT the show was over, and the sky had cleared again, as if nothing had happened....

Another, minor display was observed on September 13.

Images of both displays can be viewed here. (updated 16/09)

Two Boattinis

In the night of 1/2 September Albert van Duin imaged both Boattini comets with his 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph from Puimichel in southern France.
The first image to the right is of C/2007 W1, which at 10th magnitude was well passed its maximum brightness.

It is a stack of 7 420s exposures taken between 1:21 and 2:34 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO800. The comet was located close to α Arietis (Hamal).

Click here for the full resolution image.

The second image is of C/2008 J1.
It is a stack of 8 420s exposures taken between 23:55 and 1:18 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO800.

Click here for the full resolution image.

This comet is currently fading from its maximum brightness, and now (end of October) only 12th magnitude. It is very favourably placed for northern hemisphere observers. Over the coming month it will continue to move slowly, close to Polaris.

Distant comet 2005 L3 (McNaught)

This month (June 2008) distant comet 2005 L3 (McNaught) with q = 5.593 AU is still favourably placed in Serpens starting to fade from its maximum brightness of about magnitude 13-13.5.

The image to the right was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on May 10, 2008. It is a stack of 10 300s exposures taken between 21:54 and 22:47 UT, with a modified Canon 40D, set at ISO800, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

Click here for the full resolution image.

46P/Wirtanen at its brightest

46P/Wirtanen had a favourable evening apparition in the first 4 months of this year, peaking near magnitude 8.5 in February.

The (cropped and binned) image to the right was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on February 8, 2008. It is a stack of 12 180s exposures taken between 18:32 and 19:11 UT, with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO800, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.
Note the faint tail pointing up and slightly to the right.

Click here for the (cropped) full resolution image.

New comet 2008 C1 (Chen-Gao)

This magnitude 13 comet was found by Tao Chen on an image taken by Xing Gao on February 1 with a Canon 350D, equipped with a 200mm f/2.8 lens, as part of a nova search, and subsequently also identified on images of January 30 and 31. Further confirming images were obtained on February 2, after which the first amateur discovery of 2008 received the designation 2008 C1 (Chen-Gao).

Preliminary orbital calculations show that this comet will pass perihelion on April 16 at 1.26 AU from the Sun. Recent observations suggest that it will gradually brighten to about magnitude 10 or slightly brighter by the end of March, being favourably placed in the evening sky for northern hemisphere observers. After perihelion it is better placed for southern observers, albeit at a rather small elongation around 50 deg., and gradually fading.

The (cropped) image to the right, showing the comet close to 4 Cas and M52 as an inconspicuous greenish spot, was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on February 4, 2008. It is a stack of 6 180s exposures taken between 18:47 and 19:07 UT, with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO800, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

Another image, taken two days later, can be viewed here. It is a stack of 8 180s images, taken with the same equipment on February 6, 2008 between 18:40 and 19:07 UT.

His most recent image can be viewed here. It is a stack of 10 180s images, taken with the same equipment on February 27, 2008 between 21:17 and 21:49 UT.

Faint comet 2006 S5 (Hill)

C/2006 S5 (Hill) was a faint comet peaking near a maximum brightness of about magnitude 13.5 in January 2008, favourably placed near the boundary between Gemini and Cancer.
It is a distant comet with q = 2.630 AU and a relatively short period of about 960 years.

The (cropped) image to the right was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on December 16, 2007. It is a stack of 12 300s exposures taken between 00:33 and 01:36 UT, with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO800, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.
Despite its large heliocentric distance it has a rather obvious tail, some 5' long.

Another, more recent image by Albert van Duin can be viewed here. It is a stack of 30 180s images, taken with the same equipment, but at 1600ISO, on January 12, 2008 between 21:38 and 23:14 UT.

The discovery of V597 Puppis

In the early morning of November 14, 2007 our longtime friend Alfredo Pereira, observing from his home at Cabo da Roca, Portugal, discovered his 4th nova at magnitude 7 in Puppis. It was quickly confirmed by other observers and received the permanent designation V597 Puppis. It appears to belong to the class of fast novae; follow-up observations by Alfredo indicate a drop in brightness of over 2 magnitudes within 4 days of maximum.

The image to the right shows the new intruder (the bright reddish object near the center) in Puppis. It was imaged remotely from New Mexico by Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero just over a day after discovery. Unfortunately, at decl. -34o it is too far south to be observable from our latitude.

Alfredo has been so kind to write up his discovery story for us, together with some additional information about his nova search efforts. You can download his article as a pdf here.

Favourable apparition of 8P/Tuttle

Currently (23 February) 8P is moving southeast through Horlogium towards Reticulum, thus being best visible from the southern hemisphere.
The comet is now fading and still large, and fairly diffuse, due to its close approach to the Earth in early January.

The (cropped) image to the right was obtained by Albert van Duin, Beilen, The Netherlands on the evening of December 29, 2007. It is a stack of 15 120s exposures taken between 17:57 and 18:29 UT, with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO800, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph. Note the faint downward (east) pointing tail!

More images by Albert van Duin and Emiel Kempen can be viewed here in our 8P image gallery.
[last updated 08/01/2008]

17P/Holmes in outburst!

On October 23/24 P/Holmes stunned observers by going into outburst, increasing by a full 14 magnitudes within 24 hours, from an inconspicuous 16th magnitude to an easy naked eye object of about magnitude 2.5, disturbing the familiar pattern of the stars in Perseus! Over the following week the total magnitude remained about the same, but 17P transformed from nearly stellar, to a huge object, resembling a planetary nebula of about 9' diameter (actually the dust coma), surrounded by a very faint gascoma reaching almost 1 degree in diameter.

In the meantime the gascoma has completely disappeared, but the dustcoma has increased considerably, reaching almost 1.5 degree in diameter by the end of December. The surface brightness of the comet has decreased considerably, but the total brightness has decreased very little. As a consequence, the increasing size has made visual estimates and the choice of a proper instrument more and more difficult.

After almost a week of cloudy weather the skies over The Netherlands finally cleared and some of our regular contributors of photographs managed to catch it, at last.
The images to the right were obtained on the evening of 30 October, 2007 by Albert van Duin from his backyard observatory in Beilen, The Netherlands.
The first image, processed to better bring out the gas component of the coma, is the sum of 49 5s-exposures taken between 18h39m and 18h59m UT with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO800, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original.
Click here for a (cropped) full resolution image.

The second image was processed to emphasize the details in the dust coma.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original.
Click here for a (cropped) full resolution image.


More images by Jean-Marie Biets, Albert van Duin, Edwin van Dijk, Carl Johannink, Emiel Kempen and Marco Langbroek can be viewed here in our 17P image gallery.
[last updated 29/02/2008]
The following sequence, prepared by Emiel Kempen, nicely shows the expansion of the dust coma between October 30 and November 18.

C/2006 VZ13: a fine summer comet

Comet 2006 VZ13 (LINEAR) passed close to the bright globular cluster M3 on the evening of July 22, 2007. This event was imaged by Albert van Duin from his backyard observatory in Beilen, The Netherlands.
The first image shows the rapid motion of the comet in the course of 25 minutes. It is the sum of 34 30s-exposures taken between 21h40m and 22h05m UT with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original.
Click here for a (cropped) full resolution image.



The second image was obtained from the same data set, but now centered on the comet.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original.
Click here for a full resolution image.

The following two images show C/2006 VZ13 on the evening of July 14. The first image was obtained by Albert van Duin from his backyard observatory in Beilen, The Netherlands.
It is the sum of 40 30s-exposures taken between 21h56m and 22h27m UT with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original.
Click here for a (cropped) full resolution image.



The second image was taken by Emiel Kempen from Hoogeveen, The Netherlands.
It is the sum of 7 120s-exposures taken between 22h14m and 22h47m UT with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO1600, through a 15-cm f/5 Meade Schmidt-Newton telescope.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original.
Click here for a full resolution image.

Noctilucent Clouds 28 and 29 June 2007


During the month of June there have been several fine displays of noctilucent clouds, but unfortunately our weather was not really cooperative. However, Edwin managed to get a few images recently when conditions were not too bad.

The first image to the right was obtained on June 28 at 23h17m UT. It is a 20s exposure with a 55mm/f/5.6 lens on a Canon 350D, set at ISO800.

The second image was taken on June 29 in strong twilight at 22h01m UT. It is a 6s exposure with the same equipment and settings.

(All images ©2007EdwinvanDijk)

More images of NLC can be found in the pictures section.



Comet 2007 E2 (Lovejoy).

Comet 2007 E2 (Lovejoy) is now out of reach of visual observers, but was a nice binocular object in April and early May 2007.

The images to the right were obtained on the evening of 17 May, 2007 by Albert van Duin from his backyard observatory in Beilen, The Netherlands.
The comet was then passing only 10' from magnitude 11 NGC6015.
The first image, centered on the comet, is the sum of 30 120s-exposures taken between 21h39m and 22h47m UT with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original.
Click here for a (cropped) full resolution image.



The second image, centered on the stars, clearly shows the fast motion of the comet past NGC6015.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original.
Click here for a (cropped) full resolution image.


More images by Albert van Duin and Emiel Kempen can be viewed here in our C/2007 E2 image gallery.

C/2006 P1 (McNaught), the Great Comet of 2007.

Observations of C/2006 P1 over the last week before perihelion showed that this comet continued its rapidly brightening trend all the way, following a formula close to Ho = 5.0 and n = 4.
Unfortunately, the elongation then was only about 5-6 degrees, but comet McNaught could still be seen by earth-based visual observers, because the geometry was favourable for a considerable brightness increase due to forward scattering of sunlight on very small dust particles in the coma.
Dr. Joseph N. Marcus, former editor of Comet News Service, has studied the conditions for forward scattering in this particular case using a novel Henyey-Greenstein function forecast model, details of which can be found in an article that has appeared in the special April 2007 issue of the ICQ.
His study showed that an increase in brightness of about 2.5 magnitudes could be expected at the time that the minimum scattering angle θ was reached on January 14.3. Indeed the many positive observations in broad daylight close to the sun both with telescopes of various sizes and even with the naked eye indicate that comet McNaught peaked very close to the predicted maximum at magnitude -5 or slightly brighter.
Dr. Marcus (updated) prediction can still be downloaded here.

After perihelion comet McNaught became a spectacular object for southern hemisphere observers. By the time it became visible in a fairly dark sky around January 19, observers were stunned by the amount of detail visible in the tail.
Even to the naked eye numerous synchrones or striations were visible in a widely fanning tail. The brighter, southern part could be followed over at least 25 degrees, while the northern part fanned out to well beyond Fomalhaut reaching a length of at least 40 degrees, making this part visible at the end of evening twilight as far north as the Netherlands and Germany.

Towards the end of January the comet was still a nice view, despite increasing moonlight, as can be seen on the image to the right. It was taken on January 28.8 from Noordhoek, Western Cape, RSA. It is a 15s exposure with a 50mm f/1.2 lens on Fujichrome 400 ASA colourfilm. (©2007rjbouma).

A brief report with images, most of them taken by Boelie Boelens, of our trip to South Africa, can be viewed here.

Strange comet P/2006 U1 (LINEAR).

On October 19 the LINEAR team discovered a very odd looking comet. Although the head was perfectly stellar near magnitude 17, it showed a distinct tail, several arcminutes long. With a perihelion distance of 0.51 AU and a period of 4.63 years it proved to be another member of the growing class of objects in Apollo/Amor type orbits that mark the transition between active periodic comets, and dead nuclei that cannot be distinguished from asteroids anymore.

The image to the right was obtained on November 26, 2006 by Albert van Duin from his backyard in Beilen, The Netherlands.
It is the sum of 14 60s-exposures taken between 21h51m and 21h12m UT with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph. The field is slightly over 30x30'.
The faint tail can be followed over more than 30' because of the favourable geometry close to orbital plane passage.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original. Click here for a full size image.

Comet 2006 M4 (SWAN).

Comet SWAN has now disappeared in evening twilight for both northern and southern hemisphere observers.
The image at right shows the comet close to bright ζ Aquilae.
It was taken on November 18, 2006 between 17h15m and 17h31m UT by Albert van Duin from his backyard in Beilen, The Netherlands.
It is the sum of 23 30s-exposures with a modified Canon 350D, set at ISO1600, through a 20-cm f/2.75 ASA astrograph.

This is a 2x2binned image from the original. Click here for a full size image.


Here you can find a selection of older images.

Bright maximum of Chi Cygni.


In early August 2006 the well known mira variable χ Cygni had a very bright maximum near visual magnitude 3.7, making it an easy naked eye object.

This is a rather unique event; χ had not been this bright for almost 150 years!

The image to the right was taken on August 1 around 22h45m UT; it is a 10s exposure, showing stars down to 7th magnitude.
Most of the constellation of Cygnus is visible with bright Deneb at upper left.

(Image on Minolta dimage 7i, ©2006EdwinvanDijk)

The second, much deeper image was taken on the morning of August 4, around 3h45m UT by Juan José González at the Alto del Castro - Aralla, León at 1720m altitude.
It is a 2m exposure on Fuji Superia 1600 film with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Chi is the bright orange star near the bottom of the image, slightly left of centre.
Visually it was estimated at magnitude 3.8.

73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, fragment C.

Romke Schievink and Carl Johannink took this image of 73P-C on May 4, 2006 around 23h40m UT near Gronau, Germany.
This 80s exposure was taken with a Canon 300D body and 475mm F/3.8 Wright-Väisälä camera.
The conditions were far from ideal; there was some moonlight present, and the sky was rather hazy.

Conjunction Moon, Venus and Mercury.


While being in the south of France to witness the effects of Deep Impact on 9P/Tempel 1 (which were rather disappointing for visual observers), we were also able to observe the beautiful conjunction of the Moon, Venus and Mercury on the evening of July 8, 2005.

By sheer coincidence it was visible from the country road next to our holiday home near Revest-du-Bion, with (in)famous Mont Ventoux, some 25 km away, in the foreground.

(Image on Minolta dimage 7i, ©2005EdwinvanDijk)

 
Romke Schievink and Carl Johannink took this image of C/2002 T7 (LINEAR) on the evening of February
19, 2004 at the COSMOS Public Observatory near Lattrop, The Netherlands. The roughly 1.5 x 2.5 deg.
field nicely represents the view in medium sized binoculars. This 30s exposure was taken around
18h40m UT with a Canon 300D body and 475mm F/3.8 Wright-Väisälä camera.
The bright star in the lower right corner is 86 Pegasi.

This image of 153P/Ikeya-Zhang and M31 was obtained by
Albert van Duin (Beilen, NL) on the morning of April 5,
2002; it is a 4m exposure with a 200mm f/2.5 lens on
Fujicolor 800 film.

Click here for a full size image [214Kb].
(Old image replaced with an improved copy [24-10-2006].)

And click here for more images of 153P.
 

Comet West was a brilliant object in the morning sky
in early March 1976. This image was obtained with a
simple 35mm camera + 50mm f/1.8 lens on a tripod.

Click here for a full size image [41Kb].