This 7th magnitude comet is currently gracing our early morning skies in Serpens. The comet is moving over half a degree per day, so this image was made by shooting numerous short exposures and adding them in Maxim DL by aligning the nucleus. The leading edge of the coma is green from the CN Swan band emissions, and the ray tail is faintly bluish. Also seen here is a faint yellowish tint to the comas hood, making up the dust component. These images shot 4am onward on January 20th, 01.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Newtonian
CCD Camera:  SBIG237, FR237 focal reducer
Exposure:  L=19x30s, R=10m, G=10m, B=10m (Binned 2x2)
Filters:  RGB
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing 4/10, Transparency 7/10
Temperature:  25 F

A series of black and white images below, showing the varation in appearance with the Red, Green and Blue filters. The red shows primarily the dust component as a broad bow shaped hood. The middle green image yeilds the largest coma and small amounts of Ion tail, this is due to the CN in the coma is primarily green in color. The blue shot shows the blue ion tail streaming out the back best. Finally, the combined image below revealing the comets true colors. R=G=B=10x30s, binning 2x2.

This final image, is of the inner coma, and is the full 640x480 unbinned resolution. It is an RGB image and clearly shows the beautiful emerald green of the inner core.

Instrument:  12.5" f/5 Newtonian
CCD Camera:  SBIG237, FR237 focal reducer
Exposure:  R=5m, G=5m, B=5m 
Filters:  RGB
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing 4/10, Transparency 8/10
Temperature:  25 F