Comet Halley. March 2, 1987.
31 minutes exposure. 3M 1000 slide film. 5" f/5 refractor at prime focus.
On March 2, 1987, I was waiting for comet Wilson to rise high enough to photograph. Looking around the sky, I realised that comet Halley was well placed for viewing, however the comet was predicted to be below 16th magnitude. Far beyond anything I could visually reach with the equipment I had available to me at the time. But I decided to try and photograph the region just for something to do and in the hope that I might register something.
Looking at the above image, there is no trace of the comet. The image scale is far too small. Below is an enlargement of the predicted location of the comet. The comet's location is at the centre of the circle.
Close to the centre of the circle is the 13.1 magnitude star GSC: 5497:860. In the 5 o'clock direction just inside the circle is the 15.3 magnitude star, GSC:5497:800. The predicted location of the comet was about 1/5th of the distance from star 860 to star 800, and almost exactly on that line. Looking at the enlarged image, there are two dots at this location. The one on the left corresponds to an un-named star on the "Real Sky" plates at about 17th magnitude. There is nothing at the location of the object on the right which is virtually exactly on the predicted position of comet Halley. These are shown a little easier in the next image which has been processed a little more.
Did I manage to photograph the comet? It is hard to say for certain. The dot could be just noise. However, it is at the correct location and is about the correct brightness.