I finally got out under a fairly dark sky to look for and try to photograph Comet Lovejoy. I was not able to see it naked eye, but it was a good sight in binoculars although the tail was not visible. I set up my camera piggyback on my telescope so it could track the sky. I did this to eliminate star trailing and to allow me to take multiple exposures to lower the electronic noise of the camera. The star cluster in toward the upper left corner is the Pleiades (Seven Sisters). The satellite track in the comet photograph is of the SL-8 rocket booster that was launched on August 28, 1990 to put the Soviet Cosmos 2098 atmospheric research satellite into orbit. The lower photograph is of Venus (upper left) and Mercury that I took while setting up the telescope for the comet photography.
Photographer: Rick Scott
Date: January 17, 2015
Camera: Canon EOS 40D digital camera
Comet Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM set to 57mm
Comet Exposure: 12 x 30 seconds at f/4, ISO 1600
Venus/Mercury Lens: Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM set to 70mm
Venus/Mercury Exposure: 4 seconds at f/8, ISO 100
Camera Mode: RAW
Software: Adobe Photoshop CS6 for RAW conversion and image processing
Updated: January 18, 2015