First update.
Early januari 2005 a comet of magnitude +3 is visible. It is Comet C/2004 Q2 Machholz. Around 8 januri 2005 the comet passes the open star cluster Pleiades. I did see the comet for the first time on 13 december 2004, during Geminid maximum. My first pictures of this comet are shown here. They were taken on 8 januari 2005 around 21:30 UT. I had a splendid look on the comet with my 80 mm F5 Richfied refractor. The comet looked like a fuzzy ball with a bulb , a part of the dust tail I suppose.
Unfortunately at that time I had not a real good lens for comet photography. This time I used a Canon EF 2.8/28-80 mm zoomlens. It is difficult to get sharp pictures with this lens. Zoomlenses are not that good for astrophotography. Within some time I have a Canon EF 2.0/100 mm lens, which gives far better results!

Second update!
Pictures added taken on 15 januari 2005 with my new Canon EF 2.0/100 mm lens. The Canon 10D is attached on a Vixen travelmount, which can be used to follow the stars with the camera. Some nice pictures of comet 2004 Q2 Machholz are presented. There are also some pictures taken with a Canon EF 2.8/50 mm macro lens.

Important! The best way to look at this pictures is to set them on medium size. But the pictures taken after 23 UT are also impressive in full size!

Third update!
Today I have added some pictures op Comet Machholz captured around full moon on januari 24th. And some stacked pictures of 15 and 16 januari 2004. Also some "in action" pictures of Jaap van 't Leven and me...

Fourth update:
Some pictures of comet Q2 Machholz added. Pictures taken on 6, 7 and 8 februari 2005, when the comet moves throught the constellation of Cassiopeia.

Fifht update:
Comet C/2004 Machholz is now approaching the "Northstar" Polaris. Together with Jaap van 't Leven I captured the comet on 27 februari around 20:30 UT. Comet is now magnitude ~ 5.0. Both tails are visible yet, but in the coming weeks the tails will vanish when te comet heads further from our star the sun.