Comet 141P/ Machholz 2 is a moderately faint periodic comet with a period of a little over 5 years. It was discovered in 1994 during an outburst. It was subsiquently discovered that the cause of the outburst was fragmentation of the nucleus. Apart from the main nucleus, 4 fragments were observed, one of which, fragment D, survived to be visible during the 1999 and 2005 returns. The 2010 return was very unfavourable and by the 2015 return no trace of fragment D was found. However another very faint fragment, F, was observed which indicated the nucleus had undergone further fragmentation.
Measurements of the vrightness of the main nucleus were very discordant during the 2015 return, with some observers reporting it as bright as 12th magnitude during August, but others as faint as 17th magnitude! My images taken during this time indicated a magnitude of around 16. Images taken during June and July revealed no trace of the comet even though some reports indicated it was around magnitude 15. One image from July 19 is included here with the location of the comet indicated by the box.
