In spite of the first quarter moon and low clouds, Lovejoy was easily visible with binoculars.
20150227, 19225UT, Canon EOS 60D and EF135mm F2 at F2.8, 19x43s, ISO1600.
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy), 2015-02-27.
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) near H&Chi.
Conditions were not as good as last week, but Lovejoy was still remarkably active. No brightness estimate this time, due to a bright star too close to the comet.
20150213, 1935UT, Canon EOS 60D and Sigma 50mm F1.4ART at F2.2, 20x30s, ISO1600
16/02/2015
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy), 50mm.
Finally clear skies and the moon out the way. Arrived early at public observatory Bussloo and piggy-backed the camera on the AP 1100 GTO mount. With short focal lengths this mount does not need autoguiding. At magnitude 4.7 the comet was still clearly visible to the naked eye. A pair of 8.5×42 binoculars showed a nice gas tail. A lot of visitors, there were some 80 in total, also got a glimpse of the comet through binoculars.
20150206, 18.06UT, Canon Eos 5Dii, Sigma 50mm/F1.4 ART, @F2.5, 4x120s, ISO1600.
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) and meteor
I had another look at the comet in between two bad weather fronts. Found a more sheltered spot this time to setup the Vixen Polarie with Canon 5Dii and EF 135mm/2L lens. But it was still pretty cold with temperatures around freezing and force 6 winds (windchill -7°C). While observing the comet with binoculars, a very slow, distinctly orange-coloured, magn. +1 meteor appeared. Succeeding images show the persistent train for another 3 minutes.
2015-01-14, 18.53UT, Canon EOS5Dii and EF135mm/2L at F2.5, 20x20sec, ISO1600.
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)
First image of comet Lovejoy. Fortunately the very strong winds did not affect the image too much. The comet was visible with the naked eye. I estimated the comet at 4.3 (S) with a 3×12 Zeiss monocular. A hint of the tail could be seen with the 3×12 as well. (Note the disconnection event in the tail!)
2015-01-08, 18.39UT, Canon EOS5Dii and EF135mm/2L at F2.8, 9x20sec, ISO1600.
2015-01-08, 18.39UT, Canon EOS5Dii and EF135mm/2L at F2.8, 9x20sec, ISO1600.
Tivoli, Namibia, 2014, photos.
During the past december holidays, I finally found some time to start processing the nightsky photos from my past summer holiday (2014) at the Tivoli Southern Sky guest farm. More to come.
Lunar halo
A lunar halo caused by high clouds composed of ice crystals. This halo was visible for about 15 minutes.
2014-01-02, 20.43UT; Canon EOS5Dii and EF8-15mm at F/4.5 and f-15m, 4sec, ISO1600.
Sunspot AR2192
Been waiting all week long to catch a glimpse of giant sunspot AR2192. Managed to take 2 shots on Saturday before clouds moved in again.
Sunsport AR2192, 20141025, 1006UT. William Optics GT81, Lunt solar wedge, Canon EOS 60D, ISO100, 1/8000s.
Moon and Jupiter
20140601, 21.43UT, Canon EOS 5DII, EF24-105mm @28mm, F4.5, 5sec, ISO1000
Bright Camelopardalid
Canon EOS5DII and EF8-14/4L @F4, 8mm. ISO1600. 2014-05-24, 01.01.32-01.02.01UT.
We set out, at the public observatory Bussloo, to observe a possible meteorstorm from comet 209P/Linear. However, only one possible meteor from comet 209P/Linear was identified and photographed. Nevertheless we had a great night of observing and photographing various objects with different telescopes and lenses.