Hi,
I have been out each morning to view & Image this Great Comet discovered by Brisbane Astronomer Terry Lovejoy only a few short months ago ! The comet was on route very close to the Sun, 120,000klms and was thought to vapourise, But suprisingly it survived the intense heat and has been putting on a spectacular display !
Hope you like ?

Great picture mate. I never even heard about it.

Nice pic PlumbBob.
What time of night & what part of the sky do we have to look at?

Hi Guys I have been covering comet Lovejoy in the below thread if you are interested. I love anything to do with what's going on up in space - it was quite incredible to see the little comet survive I've got live footage on the thread which was pretty cool to watch at the time.

http://forum.weatherzone.com.au/ubbthrea..._20#Post1043332

For further great footage and photos, go to Spaceweather.com and in the archives drop down box top right hand side of screen, select December 25 2011 and click the view button. I think if you type in any date from the 14 December 2011 right through to 25 December 2011 it will bring up articles that NASA covered of comet Lovejoy. Underneath some of the pictures shown on their site are links to other photos be sure to click on them as many people send their photos into NASA in hope of having it listed on the site.

Cheers and I love your photo PlumBob

I took these on the morning of the 22nd, the night which the head first became visible. Havn't had time to have another go.

Fantastic photos... I noted the news report that it didnt get fizzled as expected (which, science faith-wise is a bit of a worry ;o ), but didnt excpect to get spoilt by an actual image of it here on WZ!

I never even knew this was happening is it still visible or is it beyond the horizon

Apart from Markus's photoos above there are several more on the SA day to day thread over the last 2 weeks or so....
Trav - I know its very faint here now in SA, not sure whether it would be any different up there...

Hi Folks,

I posted this over in the solar watch spaceweather thread in the Lounge - it shows brand new never seen before footage of comet Lovejoy on it's approach to and from the Sun. They have not seen a comet ever do this before.

http://youtu.be/fFC2IU-O8M0

Here is a still photo showing the tail wobble along the magnetic field lines



I love all the photos you have taken! I don't believe we can still view Comet LoveJoy as it has moved further away from the Sun. I could be wrong though.

Hi, sorry been absent, that time of year, so all the best to yous all for the season and I appreciate the comments, Re: pic )

This has been a great Comet since re-appearing after it close encounter, causing the massive tail to grow in exccess of 30 odd degrees the last week or so, however it has also diminished in brightness somewhat as the tail diffuses ?
By the way, Great photo's Markus, and how great it must have been to see it at its brightest early stages, Envious ! we here in SeQld weren't so fortunate ? My image was taken on the 27th as was the 1st real clear night we had, I say this in responce to EddyG Re : Lovejoys Position at the moment,
I have re-attach/linked above pics & a snippet for reference as to Lovejoys position at the moment, I have also place two Blue marks in all three attached, in a dark area of nebulosity Known as the Pipe Nebular, for further relation !
Mind my attempt to draw a comet, & it will be slightly higher than where I have put it, and the brightness is by no means representative of the actuall Comet, Lol !

Also Note: on the attached Snippet Sky View, the East & South Cardinal points (in Red) for reference, I have also added Blue circles around the Key stars of Acrux (Southern Cross) Also is an Azimuthal Grid for Magnetic compass, Comet head located approx 150degs SE & Approx 10 Degs altitude from flat horizon .
This is also designated for approx 3am AEST.

The comet will continue to climb in altitude over the coming days, rising a few minutes earlier each day and continue its roughly arranged path in this quick illustration ?
One last Point of Note : The comet has faded unfortunately, so will be hard to spot in Light polluted skies, Eg, suburbs, You may well have to drive a little to excape the LP, I found Rathdowney was good, as I live on the NE Goldcoast burbs ? I'm sure you will have somewhere similar if in other locations ?

I hope this is understandable/helpful and I wish you good Hunting if your keen to rise at such early hours ?

Thanks PlumbBob, much appreciated.
I got up at about 4.30am NSW time, but unfortantely we had full cloud cover again this morning, i dont have to worry about light pollution as i live in the sticks.
I will keep trying anyway, once again thanks for sharing your wonderful pics PlumbBob and Markus.

Here's my compilation.

Dec 22nd: This was my first morning viewing Lovejoy. Just prior to sunset, I checked out a few potential spots to image the comet. One was a lookout near Pt Noarlunga beach. Unfortunately, street lights and construction fencing didn't make the images photogenic. I drove around and found another spot. A few areas of light pollution were noted. Here are a couple of pics. This was the first wide field astro imaging I have done with my canon 400D. All my current imaging has been prime focus (through my telescope). As a result, my earlier images weren't the best. Focus was soft plus I didn't have a tripod. Instead, I just used a jumper to support the camera on the roof of my car. I used a tripod on the 28th.




Despite clear skies being on the forecast for at least the next 1-2 days, the 22nd eventually turns out to be the best night weather wise.

Dec 23rd: After dealing with light pollution, I used the street view on Google Maps to find a better place to image. I came across a few dirt roads about 20mins away from my house. I went for a drive and was impressed with how dark the sky was. Skies were clear so off I went home to get some sleep. I woke up around 3am and looked at the satpic. To my horror, a thin bank of cloud was heading our way. I drove to the site, started imaging, but that cloud started rolling in. It was the worst timing! The only cloud in the sky was right were the comet was. As soon as dawn broke, the cloud had moved on. Here's the best pic from that morning.



You can see how much better the sky was compared to my first pic.

Dec 24th: Again, cloud ruined the show :-(




Dec 28th: Weather was terrible until the morning of the 28th. By this stage, the comet had dramatically faded. Clear skies though.



Overall, a pleasing experience. Unfortunately, cloud ruined the show during the mornings at which the comet was brightest. I guess I shouldn't complain, as there are many people still yet to view the comet. Plus, this also makes up for the fact I missed out on seeing comet McNaught back in 07 as I was over in Europe.

Really nice going Split, Captured some good Milky way in the last one, Great stuuf, I also envious of your 1st few from early in the show (we were clouded until the 27th) as you can see both tails, one is the main Dust tail and the other fork ( off to the upper right )is the Ion tail, it is made of lighter material therefore being blown further by the Solar wind ? ?

Good show Split, top captures !

Here is an old Film photo of Comet McNaughty ? my learning days, he he !

I am gutted I have missed this! .. or have I? Plumb you see to know.... Do I still have a chance at capturing this?

EddyG : Hope you get a break and a look, the waxing gibbious Moon will be hindering the view in about a week as it creeps into morning skies ? Should still see it from dark skies, though could be tricky with moon and if Lovejoy fades further ?

I am going out a couple times over the next week still, seeing the weather should be Ok ?

All the best !

Sure you have Missy : ) though dark skies will help ? I see you live Brissy so if you head SW a bit you still have Gold Coast Light pollution to shoot over, though still better than from the Bris city itself ?
I have arranged with two astro mates for a Lovejoy Photo session late on Weds night into thurs morning, weather looks pretty Ok at this stage, We are going just a few Ks(5-10)Sth of Beaudesert if your interested ? This is where I took the Image at the top of this thread from, satifactorely dark out there as we also miss the GC light as comet sits in the SSE of the sky : )

Thanks PlumBob. Great McNaught shot as well.

For those asking if they can see it, best to go out to a dark site. Going by what a few others have said, it's even difficult to see under dark skies without averted vision. The best views are long gone and exposures in the order of 5mins (with tracking) are needed to see any detail.

Cool Split,
True, it is not as easy too see with the unaided eye and adverted vision is the way to Go : )

On the other hand, photography will reveal a lot more, as we know : )

Here is an Image taken this morning 2nd Jan from an astro forum, thought I could borrow it for this purpose ?
It was taken with lens set at 30mm, exposure was 30sec @ f/1.6, ISO1600 on the D200.
I might add that the 1.6 F/ratio helps let in light a lot faster, minimising the length of exposure,
A good way to go would be for SLRs is the Nifty 50mm lens which can open to F1.2 in some cases letting in extreme amounts of light ? The lower the F/stop the greater the appeture, thus allowing a shorter exposure time and reducing star trailing if only using a tripod : )

Cheers !

{Image removed - please ensure you credit all images used and never removed watermarks/copyright}

Actually, no, you cant "borrow" it (it's more like theft) for this purpose ! That is my image, and I see you have chopped off my copyright notice from the lower part of the image.
You have given no credit for the image, as the guidelines at the top of the page say you must.
Please remove it from your post immediately.
I suggest you read the forum guidelines, in particular section 6:
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Copyright

Finding material on the Internet does not mean it is copyright free. If you use someone else's material or images in your posts ensure you have permission and/or acknowledge appropriately. This is entirely your responsibility. Weatherzone and its representatives do not monitor for copyright infringements.
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My Comet Lovejoy images can be seen here Gordon Garradd's Astronomy Page

Dam Sorry Gorden, I only thought copywrites were only for reproducing images to sell and what not, please except my apologies and my ignorance, I appreciate you making yourself clear and hope there was No harm done ? I have never came across anyony who has been so sincere about shairing
The only reason why a cleared the print on the lower of the image was due to the 6 x 30 secs which may have been confusing, ,
I will report this thread as I cannot change it now !