Late December Comet Lovejoy from Tasmania

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Hi all,

I've just returned from 3 weeks visiting family in Tasmania, and for much of the time I was without an internet connection. Fortunately, however, I was able to have a quick look at IIS late on Boxing Day, and I found out about Comet Lovejoy! I was also lucky to have fairly clear pre-dawn skies for the next 3 mornings, and I was staying about 20km east of Hobart with reasonably dark sky (at least relative to Brisbane!).

I know there's been lots of other brilliant images of this comet posted over the last couple of weeks (many of which I'm yet to look at closely), but I thought I'd also post my two best ones. The first was taken pre-dawn on the 27th December, and the second was on the 29th December. The tail was noticably fainter on the 29th, but i like this image because I also captured a nice bright meteor in the same field of view as the comet. Both images are 30 sec exposures with my 50D at 1600 iso and 35mm f/2 lens at f/2. The naked eye view was stunning, similar in appearance to these images.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,
Stephen

[iceman (Mike)]

Nice work Stephen. I can't wait to see some of your photos from around Tas.

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Nice work Stephen. I can't wait to see some of your photos from around Tas.

Thanks Mike!

Yes, I have plenty of photos from my trip, so will post a few over the next week as I process them.

Cheers,
Stephen

[renormalised (Carl)]

Nice shots, Stephen

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Thanks Carl!

I was lucky to be staying outside of Hobart with dark skies, so I only had to walk 5 steps outside my parent's front door to get this photo. If I was back in Brisbane I would have had to drive for an hour first!

Here's a reprocessed version of the first image, with a bit more detail visible.

Cheers,
Stephen

[Lester]

Wonderful views of the comet Stephen. The memories of this one will live on with many of us. All the best.

[gregbradley]

Thats a beauty Stephen. One of the best shots of it.

Greg.

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Originally Posted by Lester

Wonderful views of the comet Stephen. The memories of this one will live on with many of us. All the best.

Thanks Lester. Yes, it certainly was a spectacular event which will not be forgotten in a hurry!

Originally Posted by gregbradley

Thats a beauty Stephen. One of the best shots of it.

Greg.

Thanks Greg! I'm quite pleased with how the reprocessed image came out.

Cheers,
Stephen