Machholz's Mysterious Curved Tail

Enhanced image taken January 17th, 2005 showing unusual "S"
curvature to ion tail of Comet Machholz C2004 Q2.


The above image shows what is believed to be distortion to a comet's ion tail as a result of solar activity... This image was taken shortly after several strong X-class eruptions from sunspot 720... Images taken prior to and after this time, show the normal straight ion tail... I am asking anyone who has images of Comet Machholz taken on and between January 16th, 2005 - January 18th, 2005 to please send them, along with all pertinent information (i.e. time, location, photographer's name, etc...), to assist in a study on the effects of solar activity on the ion tail of comets... Full credit will be given to contributing photographers in any published documents...

Send images to:

mtnred@earthlink.net

Please place "Machholz Image" in the subject line of your email...


©2005 Darrell E. Spangler