A member of jupiter's family of comets, 8/P Tuttle has an orbital period of around 12.5 years. It is one of the brighter periodic comets, occassionally reaching naked-eye visibility during a favourable return. The 1980 return was not so favourable, and the comet peaked at around 8th magnitude.
Comet Tuttle 1980h January 11, 1981
5 minutes exposure, Kodak Tri-x. 12.5" f/7 newtonian at prime focus.
Comet Tuttle 1980h January 11, 1981
5 minutes exposure, Kodak Tri-x. 12.5" f/7 newtonian at prime focus.
In these two images a very faint tail is visible. This was not observed visually with the 12.5" telescope.
The 2008 return was very favourable,the comet reaching around magnitude 5.5. Unfortunatelyfor me, a combination of light pollution, teaching committments and poor weather all combined to limit my observations to two CCD images during January. :-(