29 December 2014 – Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2), Spiral Galaxy (NGC1886) and Globular Cluster M79 (NGC1904)
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 opportun...
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