I've completed four consecutive nights of photography of Comet Lovejoy, from Western Australia.
The comet was a superb sight early this morning (23 Dec), with about 15 degrees of tail visible (in dark skies, from 70km east of Perth).
I've concentrated on photographing high resolution mosaics of the comet, as it appears above Perth and the Swan River, from the vantage point of Kings Park.
A sample of images is currently available for preview at the followinng link (link may be archived at a later time);
"These are the dust and ion tails. The gaseous ion tail is blown almost directly away from the sun by the solar wind, while the heavier, brighter dust tail will follow the comet's orbit"
After a large mass of cirrus stratus moved over us yesterday evening I thought that this morning would be the first miss of the week. Fortunately the cirrus went as fast as it came. An absolutely stunning morning here on the Manawatu Plains, Lower North Island, west coast, New Zealand.
I got up at 2.15 a.m. local time and there was 5 degrees of tail up already! Tried a new location just NE of Levin to get the Tararua Ranges in again. No cloud to worry about this time. A couple of hiccups. A few focussing problems early on, and I didn't spot a set of power lines sweeping just above the mountain tops until twilight revealed them. By then it was too late. I hadn't checked the site out in daylight, so thems the breaks. Photoshop will remove them later.
What an awesome hour & a quarter. The tail is now nearly as long as Ikeya-Seki at its best. The only thing missing is a brilliant stellar head!The split in the end of the tail was nearly 4 degrees wide. The evenly luminous beam lower down really was like a search light beam.
The vertical picture is 1 min on ISO 800 at f/5.6. The horizontal one is 30 seconds. Canon EOS 10D.
Best of luck to you all. Keep enjoying the moment. I gotta get some shut eye soon. Only 3 hours last night, & the same again tonight. I was going to take my brothers three youngest kids shopping later today, but I think I will just give them the money and let them go for it. I couldn't really face the shopping madness right now.
Currently out again but probably wasting my time. High cloud and wind spoiling the show. Two mornings in a row now ruined by cloud. It looks like I won't have clear skies until maybe Wednesday.
Hopefully people on the eastern seaboard get some views.
Currently out again but probably wasting my time. High cloud and wind spoiling the show. Two mornings in a row now ruined by cloud. It looks like I won't have clear skies until maybe Wednesday.
Hopefully people on the eastern seaboard get some views.
I feel your pain swannies i wasn't able to get away from home tonight so walked to 2kms to nearest park clear sky on arrival there so waited
for about 30 mins looked in Scorpius direction again & cloud had come could come a few hours later grr . Clouds have been good to astronomers in SA this year
Ronnie
I feel your pain swannies i wasn't able to get away from home tonight so walked to 2kms to nearest park clear sky on arrival there so waited
for about 30 mins looked in Scorpius direction again & cloud had come could come a few hours later grr . Clouds have been good to astronomers in SA this year
Ronnie
I'm actually in the process of blowing some cloud away. Just like yesterday morning, it's right where I don't want it. I might be lucky in another 15mins. All I can say is "wow" about the tail
Was despairing of ever seeing it but finally got a clear morning! Wow, what a sight, I'm gobsmacked! With very hilly horizons around the comet was completely washed out by daylight by the time the head rose but the tail was magnificent in the darker skies.
If you read this Terry, I wasn't able to get a shot that might be useful for astrometry, hope a bit more comes in. We need a precise orbit so our great-great-great-great etc etc etc.... grandchildren know exactly when it's coming back!