Comet Lovejoy 2/1/2012 - faint but still visible naked eye

[loomberah (Gordon)]

After a few days break waiting for the fading comet to move clear of the bright Centaurus/Crux star clouds, I took a few photos this morning- about 250 of them I'll post the animation later when I can assemble it on a different computer (the software I use wont work on 64bit Win 7).
Below are 2 stacks, one 8 * 30sec with the 20mm @f/2 and the other 30mm 6 * 30sec @ f/1.6, both ISO1600 on the D200. There is some distant thin high cloud lit up by Sydney/Newcastle in the South, its the murky brown glow at the bottom, with a bit of airglow mixed in.
Larger versions here: http://astro.gunagulla.com

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi, Gordon.

I wondered what the greeny brown background was, when looking at other images of Lovejoy. Still makes a nice image though.

Thanks,

Justin.

[leon]

Nice going Gordon, I thought it would be nearly gone by now, but obviously not, well done.

Leon

[Lester]

Nice views Gordon. Glad you could see it still naked eye, as my views this morning were hindered by cloud/haze.

All the best.

[loomberah (Gordon)]

Thanks

Justin- yes its a PITA when there is high cloud over the Hunter Valley, I just wish they would turn off some more lights in Sydney and Newcastle! The glow is faintly visible to the naked eye, and Sydney is 300km away!

[tornado33]

Nice shots Gordon. Its amazing how far light pollution goes. No wonder they decided not to rebuild professional scopes at Mt Stromlo.
Scott

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

I am glad I got to see comet Lovejoy around boxing day.
Went out this morning and had no luck finding it.
I'm sure most of the population never got to see this beautiful Comet at all.

[loomberah (Gordon)]

I've added a time-lapse animation to my C/Lovejoy images on http://astro.gunagulla.com

It covers 4 1/4 hours of time on Jan 2nd and there are a few meteors and satellites recorded too. Taken with a 20mm lens at f/2, 30 sec exposures with auto dark subtract, so ~35sec gaps between exposures, ISO 1600.
The 1st quarter moon was well up at the start and illuminates the view.
The original .avi file is 650Mb, reduced to a 5Mb WMV file for downloading.

[tilbrook@rbe.ne (Justin Tilbrook)]

Hi, Gordon.

Great time lapse!
Hope you don't mind if I keep this one?
I see what you mean about your light pollution problem.

Thanks,
Justin

[loomberah (Gordon)]

No worries Justin

I'm glad its only near the southern horizon and doesnt really interfere with observing, it's pretty rare to observe in that part of the sky. You can see some very thin high cloud/haze moving ~ SE, particularly on the L side of the frame, which reflects a bit of light. I think there are some bands of airglow mixed in with it too.

cheers, Gordon