Comet Lovejoy & The Little Dumbbell Nebula – Take Two

Comet Lovejoy & the Little Dumbbell Nebula on Feb 20, 2015, 01:08 UT. 45×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3. StarFreeze version.

 

Comet Lovejoy & the Little Dumbbell Nebula on Feb 20, 2015, 01:08 UT. 45x60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.
Comet Lovejoy & the Little Dumbbell Nebula on Feb 20, 2015, 01:08 UT. 45×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.  StarStreaks version.
Comet Lovejoy & the Little Dumbbell Nebula on Feb 20, 2015, 01:08 UT. 45x60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3. Comet Only version.
Comet Lovejoy & the Little Dumbbell Nebula on Feb 20, 2015, 01:08 UT. 45×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3. Comet Only version.
q2-150220-0108-45x60-6400-85f5_6-neg
Comet Lovejoy & the Little Dumbbell Nebula on Feb 20, 2015, 01:08 UT. 45×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3. Negative view.

 

A closer pairing of Comet Lovejoy and the Little Dumbbell Nebula on the night of Feb 20, 2015, plus another tail disruption event was in progress.

Comet Lovejoy & The Little Dumbbell Nebula

Comet Lovejoy & Little Dumbbell Nebula.  56x60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.  StarFreeze Version
Comet Lovejoy & Little Dumbbell Nebula on Feb 19, 2015, 01:00 UT.  56×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3. StarFreeze Version
Comet Lovejoy & Little Dumbbell Nebula.  56x60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3. StarStreaks version.
Comet Lovejoy & Little Dumbbell Nebula. 56×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3. StarStreaks version.
Comet Lovejoy & Little Dumbbell Nebula.  56x60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.  Negative view.
Comet Lovejoy & Little Dumbbell Nebula. 56×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3. Negative view.

The last significant encounter with another Messier object for Comet Lovejoy Q2 before it dims down more and moonlight eventually spoils the view.   The best part of the apparition is about over.  From now on, the comet will get fainter as it recedes from Earth and heads back out into deep space.

Its has been a fun time imaging this bright comet over the last two months.   I had good public exposure with 2 news organizations publishing two of my images, one of them being NBCNews.com.   Hopefully, another bright comet will soon appear and put on another show for us.   I’m keeping my fingers crossed.   🙂

Comet Lovejoy Fades – Lost Lots of Its Tail

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 15, 2015, 01:32 UT.   47x60 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 15, 2015, 01:32 UT. 47×60 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)

Looks like the disconnection event over the last two days has shortened Lovejoy down to a nub.  I expect that it might grow back a new tail, hopefully.

Here’s an another version of the data, but I added 35 minutes more of exposure to the mix:

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 15, 2015, 01:32 UT.   7x300sec @ ISO 1600 and 47x60 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 15, 2015, 01:32 UT. 7x300sec @ ISO 1600 and 47×60 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)

Comet Lovejoy Tail Disruption Event

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 15, 2015, 01:32 UT.   47x60 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 15, 2015, 01:32 UT. 47×60 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)
Negative View - C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 14, 2015, 01:08 UT.  42x90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 DSLR.
Negative View – C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 14, 2015, 01:08 UT. 42×90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 DSLR.

The nearly disconnected tail of Lovejoy blowing in the solar wind.   Something in the local space environment disrupted it within the last 2 days, it seems. Probably some kind of solar event like a CME or rogue magnetic field change caused this.

Comet Lovejoy Possible Tail Disconection Event

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 13, 2015, 01:00 UT.  58x90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 13, 2015, 01:00 UT. 58×90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.
StarFreeze View: C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 13, 2015, 01:00 UT. 58×90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.

 

Negative View: C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 13, 2015, 01:00 UT.  58x90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.
Negative View: C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 13, 2015, 01:00 UT. 58×90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.
Blue Version: C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 13, 2015, 01:00 UT.  58x90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.
Blue Version: C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 13, 2015, 01:00 UT. 58×90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3.

A big knot moving down the tail of Comet Lovejoy with the old tail partially disconnected and hanging on as best as it can.

M78 Reflection Nebula in Orion

M78 in Orion.  Feb 11, 2015, 03:00 UT.  22x300 @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)
M78 in Orion. Feb 11, 2015, 03:00 UT. 22×300 @ ISO 800, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)

Good transparency and cold temps helps to get good images at ISO 800.  5 minutes subs are not too noisy and stack up nicely.   This image is only 110 minutes of integration and could use more time, but it came out fine for an unmodified camera.

The full size version is here.

Comet Lovejoy’s Fantail on Feb 11, 2015, 01:00 UT

Comet Lovejoy Q2 on Feb 11, 2015, 01:00 UT.  78x60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 DSLR.  (StarStreaks version.)
Comet Lovejoy Q2 on Feb 11, 2015, 01:00 UT. 78×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 DSLR. (StarStreaks version.)
Comet Lovejoy Q2 on Feb 11, 2015, 01:00 UT.  38x60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 DSLR.  (Comet Only Processing.)
Comet Lovejoy Q2 on Feb 11, 2015, 01:00 UT. 38×60 sec @ ISO 6400, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 DSLR. (Comet Only Processing.)

Moving further west each night, Comet Lovejoy Q2 continues to change and present a different profile each day.  It has gone back to a fan tail with streamers, much like it looked back on Jan 25 and Jan 16, 2015.    There is a pattern there, but the period remains elusive.