The image below was taken using my Meade LX-90 8" SCT and a Canon 60D dSLR (ISO 2500, 20s). Brightness and contrast levels adjusted.
I also managed to barely view the Comet in the eyepiece of the same scope, using a 14mm XW eyepiece for 143x. The Comet was seen at the threshold of visibility as a faint round glow. Using a Lumicon Comet (swanband) Filter did not improve the view. Comparing the Comet with nearby stars using a simple out-of-focus method, I estimated that the Comet was at around mag 9, though experts recently estimated it at mag 8.3 to 8.7 (see below).
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Com ... sages/5615
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Com ... sages/5613
(By comparison, I also viewed globular cluster M30 nearby with the same scope and eyepiece at about the same time. It is mag 7.2 with diameter 2.1 arc min. M30 was much more readily seen, i.e. much brighter in the eyepiece, than the Comet.)
The Comet is a bit past its peak brightness now. Perihelion was on 21 Feb 2014 at 1.60AU to the Sun. The Comet is now at 1.71 AU from the Earth.
Some more info on this Comet here:
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012X1/2012X1.html
http://www.alpo-astronomy.org/cometblog/?page_id=23
