Hi Nick,

Thanks for the image. Have a look at the recent images in the archive:

https://britastro.org/cometobs/156p/index.html

The comet has been showing this short, stubby tail for a while with a
brighter edge to the south (i.e. up in your image). The elongation is
around 100 deg at the moment and the comet is not far above the ecliptic
so we are seeing the tail quite foreshortened. The JPL orbit viewer is
quite a good way of visualising this:

https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=156P;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#orb

Nick.

On 08/01/2021 21:49, Nick Haigh wrote:
> Good eveningl,
>
> 156p-Russell-LINEAR. 2 hours with Baader 610 filter and ASI1600MM, 16" Newtonian @0.65"/pix. Slight iterative gaussian sharpening. 6' square.
> 6/1/21, 21:08 to 23:37UT. Kappa-sigma stack to remove stars.
>
> Peculiar shaped tail - are we viewing it somehow end-on?
>
> Cheers all
>
> Nick