I’d been mostly thwarted by clouds in my attempts to view and photograph Comet Lovejoy leading up to christmas. It finally cleared on christmas morning, but with three young kids I couldn’t head out to photograph it – and then we went on holidays the next day.
It wasn’t until the last day of 2011 that I was able to get up early and head out to photograph the comet from our holiday place at Kioloa Beach, which by now had risen higher in the sky, grew a long tail that was almost 30 degrees long, but had also faded considerable compared to the brightest views from the 24th-26th December.
So unfortunately it’s not the best image you’ll find of the Comet, but at least I was able to finally capture it – and here are the results. What’s “the Emu”? It’s the emu shape formed by the dark patches of sky and bulge of the milky way around this part of the sky.
The first image is a single 60 second exposure taken with a Canon 40D and Sigma 17-70mm lens, ISO1600, f/2.8.
Comet Lovejoy and the Emu from Kioloa Beach
Some red skyglow is visible.
This last shot is similar, but in portrait orientation. It shows the beach and surf club at Kioloa Beach in a single 30s exposure.
Comet Lovejoy and the Emu at Kioloa Beach
Thanks for looking. I hope you got some great views of Comet Lovejoy – feel free to tell me about it in the comments section below!
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