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Images of Comet C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR) were taken on the evening of 2001-11-01 with an ST-7e CCD Camera through an 8" LX200 f/10 telescope.

The comet could not be seen visually though the LX200, due to bright sky background (full moon 39 deg away) and poor dark adaption, but could be picked up in a 10 sec CCD exposure. Movement of the comet relative to background stars  was measured at approximately 1.4 arcmin per hour.

The comet appeared to be a lot fainter than expected (Calibrated m2 Magnitude of only +13.2).

The coma was noticeably brighter in the direction of the sun (more or less in direction of travel).  It appears like a short tail but isn't a real tail, an optical artefact can be probably be ruled out (stars in the same image don't show any such feature).  

C/2000 WM1 Animation

C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR)

2001-11-01, 22:38 to 23:50h UT,  Animation produced from  4 CCD images taken over a 72 minute period.  Comet C/2000 WM1 shows  97 arcsecs of movement over this time. The comet appears to show a slight elongation, but this is due to trailing over  the exposure time (1 minute in first image, 3 minutes in remainder).

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C/2000 WM1 Images

Comet C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR)
2001-11-01, 22:33h UT  10 sec exposure (#9006)	2001-11-01, 22:38h UT  1 min exposure (#9008)
2001-11-01, 23:20 to 23:23h UT  3 min exposure (#9009)	2001-11-01, 23:50 to 23:53h UT  3 min exposure (#9018) [ enhanced image of coma ] [ false colour image ]
Stacked Images 2001-11-01, 23:42-23:50h UT  3 x 3 min exposure (#9016, 9017, 8018)  Stars appear trailed in this image	Enhanced to maximise comet detail 2001-11-03, 23:20h UT 3 min  exposure (#9009, part). The coma is elongated due to trailing  during the exposure. A tail-like feature extends to the right,  but this points towards the sun and can't be a real tail ?
CCD Images taken with ST-7E at 1x1 binning, though 8" LX200  at exposures of 10 sec, 1 min and 3 min exposure. CCD Temperature -15 deg C Images autoguided on star adjacent to main field of view.
(click on an image for details & larger view)

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