\begin{table}%t2
%\centering
\par
\caption{\label{VLT_obs}2008 Observations taken with VLT+FORS2.}
\begin{tabular}{ccccccccccc}
\hline \hline\noalign{\smallskip}
Date & $R_{\rm h}$ & $\Delta$ & $\alpha$ & Filter & $t_{\rm exp}$ & $N_{\rm exp}$\tablefootmark{a} & $m_{\rm apparent}$ & $m_{\rm coma}$\tablefootmark{b} & $m_{\rm absolute}$ & $r_{\rm N}$\\
\hline
May 05.2 & 5.7 & 4.7 & 1.6 & $R$ & 74 & 43(23) & $23.74\pm0.06$ & $25.1\pm0.3$ & $16.55\pm0.06$ & $\le$$1.40\pm0.03$ \\
May 05.3 & 5.7 & 4.7 & 1.6 & $V$ & 74 & 43(34) & $24.01\pm0.07$ & -- & $16.81\pm0.07$ & $\le$$1.46\pm0.05$ \\
May 06.2 & 5.7 & 4.7 & 1.4 & $I$ & 74 & 43(37) & $24.31\pm0.10$ & $27.1\pm1.0$ & $17.12\pm0.10$ & $\le$$0.92\pm0.04$ \\
Jun. 01.2 & 5.6 & 4.7 & 4.0 & $R$ & 100 & 24(16) & $24.54\pm 0.07$ & -- & $17.30\pm0.09$ & $\le$$0.99\pm0.04$ \\
Jun. 04.2 & 5.6 & 4.7 & 4.5 & $R$ & 83 & 28(28) & $24.50\pm 0.04$ & $25.4\pm0.2$ & $17.25\pm0.04$ & $\le$$1.01\pm0.02$ \\
Jul. 28.0 & 5.5 & 5.2 & 10.5 & $R$ & 240 & 11(11)\tablefootmark{c} & $25.06\pm 0.12$ & $26.2\pm0.2$ & $17.41\pm0.12$ & $\le$$0.94\pm0.06$ \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\tablefoot{\tablefoottext{a}{The number of exposures, with the number used in the stacked images (i.e. those clear of background stars) in brackets.}
\tablefoottext{b}{Coma magnitude for a steady state coma, estimated from surface brightness profile \citep[see][]{Snodgrass05}.}
\tablefoottext{c}{The comet was in front of background stars throughout these observations; see Sect.\ref{sec:july}. The quoted uncertainty on the photometry does not include the estimated $\pm$0.2~mag. uncertainty due to the background subtraction process.}}
\end{table}