Comet Machholz
![[machholz_041213_12.jpg]](machholz_041213_12.jpg)
Comet Machholz reached naked-eye visibility in late 2004, and its path took it high across the night sky over a period of several weeks. But due to the geometry of its orbit, it never displayed much of a tail; as seen in this photo, Machholz remained a compact fuzzy ball.
Date: December 13, 2004.
Time: 9:50 p.m. MST.
Location: Florence Junction, Arizona.
Camera: Olympus OM-1 35mm SLR on homemade tracking mount.
Film: Kodak Elite Chrome 400 slide.
Focal length: 100 mm.
Aperture: f/2.8.
Exposure time: 5 minutes.
Scanner: Nikon Coolscan LS-2000 (cropped).