Comet C/2006 M4 (Swan)

Object: Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN)
Constellation: Corona Borealis
Date: 24 October 2006
Equipment: SXV-H9, Vixen 114mm f5.3 ED refractor
Subframes: 20 x 120 second full frame (unguided, tracked on comet nucleus), 16 darks, 16 flats/flat darks, calibrated and stacked in AIP4Win.

This object unexpectedly brightened to around 4th magnitude and was easily visible to the naked eye, even from my light polluted corner of the world. Having learned from earlier efforts, I went for longer subs to catch detail in the tail, and also tracked using the comet orbital parameters (entered into the GPDX SkySensor hand controller) rather than simple sideral tracking. The tracking was virtually perfect, more by luck than judgement, enabling me to get my best shot of a comet to date.

Once again, I wished I'd taken more subs as the image is still a bit noisy, but as this one was on a hyperbolic orbit, it won't be coming back to let me have a second go...