Searching through layers of shadowed space to locate a moving 4th magnitude object is no easy task.
My camera lens peered through a thinly-shadowed atmosphere of the Earth… aperture and time pushing aside clouds and cosmic objects that played hide-and-go-seek with the Lovejoy Comet.
Chilled fingers, failed photos, and shadowed by doubt were not reasons to quit!!!
Determination and a Lovejoy Comet map proved to be keys to success.
Shadowed in Outer Space… orbiting between constellations I now can find and name… is the Lovejoy Comet.
Clad in dusty, greenish glow… caused by ionized molecules of cyanogen and diatomic carbon.
Lovejoy gave itself away- no longer shadowed in outer space!
This is the “big picture” of Lovejoy’s stellar neighborhood (click for larger view)
This is the “intimate shot” of Lovejoy: Cropped from the photo pictured above. (Lightroom 5)
Now if that isn’t determination, I don’t know what is!
Fascinating Jane, and thanks for enlightening (pun intended 😉 ) us yet again!
Wow you managed to take that picture. Nice capture 🙂
Thanks Ruchi! This was a challenging quest- to be sure. Those wispy clouds that blow in from the Coast in the evening were rascals 🙂
~ Jane
LOL:)
Now this is cool!! We LOVE astronomy so this type of stuff fascinates us soooo much 🙂
It was an interesting experience to turn the camera towards the stars. I’m sure there are lots of tricks for astronomy photography… this adventure entailed much guess work so far as manual settings went!! I was SO excited to find that little green glow…
Good for you for seeking it out Jane – I was, I admit it, too lazy. Also we’ve had cloudy skies these few days. I hope to get another chance at it!
Hi Tina-
If you get a chance, I suspect your challenge will be even greater because the comet is heading back into deep space. I’ll be curious to see what you get- good luck! 🙂
~Jane
…….hoping for clear skies tonight!
We just found Comet Lovejoy last night, with binoculars, standing on the dock at the marina in La Cruz. Tired neck, as it was almost overhead. Will dig out the tripod and try for a shot tonight away from the dock lights.
FANTASTIC!!! I can’t wait to hear how you do. It’s raining cats and dogs here… Don’t think we have any more opportunities. Best wishes and good luck 🙂
I’ll keep my fingers crossed;) best wishes!
Clear, heavenly skies and away from the city loom. Charts show it moving through Lepus and had a good look at specified time 21.40 but nary a comet, though plenty of satellites.
Oh… too bad on the comet. But fun to see satellites… remember when THEY used to be hard to spot???
The comet is down to magnitude 4- I think that makes spotting even more challenging.