This picture of the comet was taken at about 10pm BST on the 1st April 2002. The comet is in the constellation of Andromeda and it is close to three of its principal stars; β, μ and ν (it is closest to μ). The background sky is very bright as the comet was low in the sky in the north west and it was still astronomical twighlight. Another fuzzy patch of light can be seen near ν - this is the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, one of the nearest galaxies to our own. The head of the comet is similar in brightness to μ (+3.9 magnitudes) and this is in agreement with a overall predicted magnitude of +3.5.

Like Hale-Bopp, this comet has two distinct tails stretching northwards towards to the top of the frame but, unlike Hale-Bopp, the blue coloured ion tail is much more prominent than the yellow dust tail implying that the comet has a higher gas-to-dust ratio. The blue ion tail can be seen right up to the top of the image and therefore extends for more than 11 degrees. This is much move obvious in the negative black and white image shown below which has been modified to enhance the blue colour:-

Here are some details about this observation:-