02 October 2008, 22:30-22:45 UT, 24x30 second exposures. FOV 22x16 arcmin. N up.
11 October 2008, 03:03-03:30 UT, 44x30 second exposures. FOV 15x15 arcmin. N up.
Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich)
Comet C/2006 OF2 (Broughton), 02-11 October 2008
Comet C/2006 OF2 (Broughton) was discovered by John Broughton in Queensland on 17 July 2006 using a 25 cm reflector. It was initially thought to be an asteroid, resulting in it being given an unusual designation, OF2. (In fact, Broughton is a prolific discoverer of asteroids!)
I began taking images of the comet after the summer break of 2008, using my 34 cm F4.0 Newtonian and MX916 CCD camera. In late summer, the comet was moving slowly west above Auriga in the constellation Camelopardalis and was expected to stay at about magnitude 11 until the end of the year. I took images on 02 and 11 October. The appearance of the comet changed little in the intervening period but, by the time of the second image, I had optimised the collimation of the telescope, so the second image is much superior to the first.
02 October 2008, 22:30-22:45 UT, 24x30 second exposures. FOV 22x16 arcmin. N up.
11 October 2008, 03:03-03:30 UT, 44x30 second exposures. FOV 15x15 arcmin. N up.
Mike Harlow