Observation by Bill Ward: Comet 220/P McNaught Outburst

Uploaded by

Bill Ward

Observer

Bill Ward

Observed

2026 Aug 22 - 02:12

Uploaded

2026 Aug 22 - 04:11

Objects

220P McNaught

Equipment

Pentax 67 400mm f4 lens on Canon 450D DSLR
Vixen Super Polaris mount

Exposure

10 x 60 secs

Location

Kilwinning, North Ayrshire

Target name

Comet 220/P McNaught

Title

Comet 220/P McNaught Outburst

About this image

After reading about the out burst of the comet I had tried to image it on two previous occasions close to its maximum brightness. However the weather did not allow this. Tonight conditions were clear but with some haze and the comet has faded from it's peak.

After locating the comet I took a sequence of 10 x 60 secs at ISO 1600 with a Canon 450D dslr and a very old Pentax 67, 400mm f4 lens. I wasn't sure if it would be within the reach of my very basic set up. The lens also has awful colour correction in the red so to mitigate this I used a Hoya HMC X0 yellow/green filter and took the images in mono.

After processing with flats/darks etc, I was delighted to see the comet sporting a ~1/2 degree tail. Image is inverted to improve viewing contrast.

Files associated with this observation

220p_2_inv_crop.jpg (161.9 kB)

Like this image

Mike Harlow, Mark Fairfax

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