Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) and Spiral Galaxy (NGC1886) imaged on 29 December 2014
It’s been almost 3 months since I last shot the night sky and I’m so glad that I’ve managed to do this again before 2014 draws to a close. The above LRGB image, with a total exposure time of 12mins, shows a beautiful comet, C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, and a spiral galaxy, NGC1886, that’s located near the left side of the coma. Comet Lovejoy is currently visible to the naked eye at very dark places and it’s also possible to capture the comet with just a DSLR and a tripod in Singapore! The waxing moon however, will get in your way before it turns into a full moon on 5 Jan 2015. So you have to be quick if you wish to capture a piece of history because Comet Lovejoy will only return after approximately 8,000 years later. The below chart might help you in locating the potentially dazzling comet.
Comet Lovejoy will be closest to Earth on 7 Jan 2015 and doesn’t reach perihelion until 30th Jan 2015. It will cross the celestial equator on 9 Jan 2015 and a good wide-angle astrophoto opportunity will surface when C/2014 Q2 passes about 9° from Pleiades (M45) on 18 Jan 2015.
Not sure if I will be doing a timelapse on this comet yet but I’ve done one last year for C/2013 R1 Lovejoy and you can check it out below.
Do feel free to post links to your Comet Lovejoy images in the comment section below to share your love and joy with all of us! Happy New Year to you!
Updated on 30 DEC 2014
Just uploaded a wider view of my capture to include the beautiful globular cluster M79 (NGC 1904) that’s located in the constellation of Lepus.
Image is also published in EarthSky and eCanadaNow.
C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, spiral galaxy NGC1886 and globular cluster NGC1904 (M79) are visible in this image.
Updated on 6 Jan 2015
Image published in Space.com, Yahoo!, UniverseToday, FTVH and Business Insider (Singapore)
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