2004 - April Two Comets C/2002 T7 Linear & C/2001 Neat Q4

Apr 26 '04-  I use my decade- old C8 with a hefty f3.3 reducer The FOV will be a meager 20-25 arc minute - may be just enough to show the nucleus and a small portion of the tail. For finder I used a 75mm lens coupled with my trusted watec 902H.

(Left ) - C8 with un-cooled Mintron - 1/2 B/W ccd and a electronic video finder  75mm f1.4 Watec-902H. Note the 3 inputs/1 output video switch.

(Right) Deep Sky Object Indoor - I pumped up Mintron 12V1C-EX to max integration ( x128) and the Eta Carina keyhole Nebulae filled the monitor.  - April 25 '04. The monitor was dotted with felt pen to mask out ccd's dead pixels.

Apr 27 C/ 2002  T7 Linear with bright condensed core.  There is a faint spray of tail directed upwards  - [Mintron x128 overexposed the comet core.] 

No telescope needed!!

Portable Comet Setup: x1 Mintron 12V1-EX, x1 Watec-902H, 2 video lens of choice, 1 miniTV monitor, 1 Sony video walkman, RCA cables, a fixed tripod, 12 volt sealed acid  batteries and a dash of eagerness.
 
May 12 '04 - Wednesday - Arrived at the field around 8pm - big chunks of slow moving clouds were obscuring the comet.  Even at this early hour dews were starting to form on  the lenses.  I  resorted to using my shirt to dry the lenses.   Cloud thinned  9pm + and Neat reappeared bright  competing with  beta Cnc  --  a magnitude  3.53 star  (see map above - 2nd date stamp tick for 12 may). Before I packed up after 9:30pm I recorded a short sequences on 'beehive' in anticipation of this May 15 drop- in  by Neat.

(Right Image) May 13 '04 - Thursday  Sky condition similar to last night.  The faint cone of comet's tail can be traced to 27 Cancri. Dimmest star ~ mag 9.6.  A handful of passers-by joined the fun.

In later years i fitted a Mintron 12V1 to a russian 300mm lens for a closer view. The set up is still portable.