Comet 2002 V1 NEAT

On November 6, comet 2002 V1 NEAT was discovered. Although only 17th magnitude at discovery, the comet brightened steadily, reaching around magnitude 8 by the end of the year. During January and February of 2003, the comet was a fine sight even though no tail was visible. The comet reached magnitude 6 by late January and eventually peaked at around magnitude 0 in late February. However it was only around 15 degrees for the Sun at that time and not visible in dark skies. Following perihelion, the comet faded quickly, falling below 8th magnitude by the end of March and below 12th magnitude by early May.

Comet 2002 V1 NEAT August 11, 2002.
1 minute exposure, SBIG ST-8E CCD.
30" f/5 Newtonian at prime focus.

This image was meant to be the first of a series of images of the comet, however clouds interviened and this was the only image to show anything, and even this one was taken through cloud! The comet was around magnitude 10.5 and is indicated by the circle.

Comet 2002 V1 NEAT January 12, 2003
Combination of 20, 30-second images, SBIG ST-8E CCD.
8" f/6.3 schmidt-cassegrain at prime focus.

On this night the comet was around magnitude 6.3, and the coma was around 7' across with a bright central condensation. No tail was visible in a 10" telescope. The images have been combined with a median filter which shows the comet well but suppresses the stars. In the image below, the individual images have been simply added, which gives a better impression of how the comet looked in the telescope.