Another bright Comet Lovejoy with the designation C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy is grazing our skies these days.
The comet’s path takes it north next to the constellation of Orion, making it conveniently placed for nothern hemisphere observers.
18.1.2015
Yesterday’s sky was a bit hazy as the temperature dropped quickly and humidity condensed in the air, additionally light pollution creates a bad gradient in the west of my home.
33x30s, 200mm, f/4, Nikon AF Nikkor 70-200 f/4, Nikon D7000, Polarie, processed in Lightroom (Clarity & Saturation), Photoshop (Levels and Curves), Deep-Sky Stacker (dark, flat, registration and stacking) and Regim (Gradient removal)
33x30s, 200mm, f/4, Nikon AF Nikkor 70-200 f/4, Nikon D7000, Polarie, processed in Lightroom (Clarity & Saturation), Photoshop (Levels and Curves, BW, inverted, equalized), Deep-Sky Stacker (dark, flat, registration and stacking) and Regim (Gradient removal)
15.1.2015
14.1.2015
some more images shot between clouds…
13.1.2015
After a sunny day some clouds rolled in, and so I was only catch fleeting glimpses of the comet between them. While I made dozens of individual exposures, I was only able to use three for this image:
Comet Lovejoy and the Plejades, 3x10s, ISO3200, 50mm at f/4, cropped
12.1.2015
Today I had some luck with the weather and also used the 80mm refractor to get some deeper images of the comet:
20x30s, 200mm, f/4, cropped from original frame
This is an animation of 25 individual RAW exposures of the comet moving against the starry background, the animation spans about 49minutes.
35×1 min. 560mm focal length, 80mm refractor, stacked in DSS using maximum
35×1 min. 560mm focal length, 80mm refractor, 506mm focal length, stacked in DSS using median
Over the course of 80 minutes the movement of Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2, is very obvious, some subtle changes in the tail are visible too
5.1.2015
With the moon farther away from the comet, even clearer sky and 40 instead of 20 15 sec. exposures the tail becomes a bit better visible.
Shot with a Nikon D7000 combined with Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/4 at f/4 ISO1000, 200mm focal length .
4.1.2015
The nearly full moon was quite near the comet and brightened up the sky, so it was very difficult to tease out the tail:
20x15s, f/4, ISO1000, 200mm f.l. Nikon D7000, Vixen Polarie
23.12.2014
My first images of C/2012Q2:
15x30s at ISO 1600 at f/4 using 70mm
This fisheye image shows the amount of light pollution in my location:
