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 – Take Two
Images
Lovejoy Q2 & The Pleiades – Another Wide Field View
The Canon kit lens that came with my camera sat unused for so long, I figured I should at least test it a bit for astro use. This is the second time I used it. But, no matter how hard I tried, the focus was never very good and I had to repair the misshapen stars in Photoshop.
Comet Lovejoy Q2 – Closest to Earth Jan 8, 2015
Very windy and cold conditions, but clear and transparent. Winds were gusting to 38 mph! I was setup behind my house which was blocking most of the wind for me. Unfortunately, the trees were blocking me from shooting the comet before the moon rose. I almost went to another spot, but with the wind so bad it would have been a disaster.
Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Jan 7, 2015
Lovejoy Q2 on Jan 7, 2015, 02:33 UT (Jan 6, 2015, 8:33 PM CST). 16×120 sec @ ISO 1600, TV-85 at F/5.6, Canon T3 DSLR (stock.)
Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Jan 6, 2015
A quickie processing job on data taken on Jan 6, 2015 at 02:53 UT (Jan 5, 8:53 pm CST.) This is 36×45 sec ISO 1600 sub-images taken with a Televue TV-85 at F/5.6 and a stock Canon T3 with no LPS filters in the image train.
A very bright moon was out while taking these shots, but it still shows a nice tail. Just think how good it will be when there is no moonlight to hinder the view!
Edit: This image appears at the Federalist online news site in a story about the comet and is available by clicking here: Catch A Comet! Lovejoy Is Lighting Up The Skies
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Dec 31, 2014
Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) – Christmas 2014
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Dec 25, 2014. 9×180 sec @ ISO 1600, Celestron C8 at F/6.3, IDAS-LPS, Hutech Canon XS. Starfreeze and Star-Streaks processing.
Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) Dec 17, 2014
Finally rising high enough to image where I live, Lovejoy Q2 is already putting on a show. It will be getting even brighter than it is now towards X-mass and the first part of January.
Date: Dec 17, 2014, 07:23 UT
Telescope: C8 w/FR/FF at F/6.3 or 1260mm f.l.
Camera: modified Canon T3
Exposure: 20 x 180 sec @ ISO 3200.
NGC 7331 With Two Telescopes
At the end of October 2014, I was shooting images of some brighter NGC galaxies, but the TV-85 scope I was using just didn’t have enough image scale to do them justice, so I never posted them. Well, my old C8 is still kickin’ and it has over 2.5 times the focal length of the smaller refractor. But, I needed a way to guide it and the 50mm guiding scope arrangement I used once for it was just not good enough.
Comet ISON on October 7, 2013
Here is my first Comet ISON image. It was low in the east in lots of light pollution, but I managed to get enough shots to make a reasonable image. I had to cut down a small tree the afternoon before taking this to get a clear shot.