Double Cluster/Machholz

I made an observation of Comet Machholz (C/2004Q2) on February 1, 2005 at 00:30 U.T. while it was located approximately 6.5 degrees from the famous Double Cluster (NGC 869/884) in the constellation of Perseus. The comet's coma appeared to be elongated in both a northeast (dust tail?) and southeast (ion tail?) direction. The brightest star closest to the comet was HIP13665 (5.56m) to the soutwest. I only wish that the comet had been located closer to the cluster. What a sight that would have been!

I hope that everyone else obtained a similar view of the event.

Regards,
Carlos

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Love your sketches Carlos. They seem to convey more of the feel of an object than a lot of the photos I see. Keep up the great work.

Very nice sketch, I saw the comet near the cluster the other night great sight and very nice accurate sketch of what it looks like in binoculars.Bravo