The Emu and Comet Lovejoy, from Killcare

[iceman (Mike)]

On the 4th day of 2012 I headed out to Killcare Beach to try and capture the last gasps of Comet Lovejoy as it was fading from the pre-dawn sky.

It was still well placed next to the ‘emu’ part of the southern Milky Way, but it had faded so much that I couldn’t see it naked eye anymore, but was still able to be picked up in a long exposure.

These are 60s exposures taken at 3:30am and 4:30am respectively, Canon 40D, 17-70mm @ 17mm f/2.8, ISO1600.

- Large 1
- Large 2
- Blog

Thanks for looking.

[Dennis]

Nice work Mike, it is still relatively easy to dig the comet out of the background Milky Way on both shots. I prefer the 3:30am image with the stars reaching almost to the horizon.

Wonder what it would have looked like with a 5D MkII and a 17-40L…hmmm…

Cheers

Dennis

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks Dennis - I wish I could go back in time to find out