Comet 2005 R2 Van Ness. October 2, 2005.
Combination of 3, 3 minute images, SBIG ST-9XE CCD.
16" f/10 schmidt-cassegrain with an f/6.3 focal reducer.
Comet 2005 R2 Van Ness is a very faint periodic comet that underwent one, and possibly two surges in brightness. The first was in September 2005, shortly after the comet was discovered, when the comet increased in brightness from about magnitude 19 to about magnitude 13 in just a few days! By January of 2006, most observers were reporting the brightness at around magnitude 18, yet in February, there were a number of reports that the comet was around magnitude 16.