[BAA Comets] C/2004 Q2 vs C/2014 Q2

[Nick James]

Morning all,

A good clear night here in Essex last night with a good view of the 
comet a various different scales.

It'sn interesting coincidence but two similar bright comets with the 
designation Q2 passed by the Pleiades 10 years apart.

C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) was at its best in January 2005 and it made a close 
approach to the Pleiades on January 8th. It had ion and dust tails 
separated by over 90 deg in PA.

http://www.britastro.org/cometobs/2004q2/2004q2_20050108_1740_ndj.jpg

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is doing the same thing now but only has the faint 
ion tail.

http://www.nickdjames.com/Comets/2015/2014q2_20150116_2100_ndj.jpg

Both these pictures were taken with the same lens but the 2004 one used 
a Canon EOS 10D. The 2014 one was with a Canon 550D.

Nick.