All the stars (and weather conditions) lined up for me this morning as I succeeded in imaging Comet C/2009 R1 McNaught!

I set up this morning in my dark sky location in Colchester, Ct. at about 2:00am. A line of low clouds passed through when I was setting up. When they had left at about 2:30am I went at the task in locating the comet. About 10 minutes later I located it at about 10 degrees above the horizon in the southern part of Perseus. It was much brighter than I though It would be. Through binoculars I managed to make out the Ion tail without a problem. Below is a single two minute exposure of it. I estimate the magnitude of at least 4.9 or better.

This image was taken with a 400mm lens with a Nikon D300 at asa/iso 800.

Here is a wide angle shot of Perseus with a 24mm Lens with the comet at the bottom. Can you pick it out?

It was a nice comet to image and add to my scrapbook. I hope I get one more chance at it before it dissapears!

Clear skies!

Alan