Comet Lovejoy - C/2013 R1
There are no fewer than four "bright" comets visible in the pre-dawn sky from northern latitudes right now. The two brightest are ISON and Lovejoy. Lovejoy is the one most well-placed for admiring from my location, the others being too close to the sun to afford much of a photographic opportunity. Lovejoy and ISON both have a coma that is glowing bright green due to the formation of poisonous cyanogen gas. The "dirty snowball" is getting brighter as it approaches the sun and the increased heat sublimates the ice producing more gas. The tail is rather dim now (best seen in a dark room with averted vision) but is expected to become more prominent as it nears the sun. Lovejoy swings around the sun in early December so here is hoping it survives its scorching. If it does survive, it will be visible through most of 2014 albeit becoming dimmer with time. This is a stack of 33 x 10 second frames stacked in DeepSkyStacker. Prince George, BC, Nov 16, 2013.
Comet Lovejoy - C/2013 R1
There are no fewer than four "bright" comets visible in the pre-dawn sky from northern latitudes right now. The two brightest are ISON and Lovejoy. Lovejoy is the one most well-placed for admiring from my location, the others being too close to the sun to afford much of a photographic opportunity. Lovejoy and ISON both have a coma that is glowing bright green due to the formation of poisonous cyanogen gas. The "dirty snowball" is getting brighter as it approaches the sun and the increased heat sublimates the ice producing more gas. The tail is rather dim now (best seen in a dark room with averted vision) but is expected to become more prominent as it nears the sun. Lovejoy swings around the sun in early December so here is hoping it survives its scorching. If it does survive, it will be visible through most of 2014 albeit becoming dimmer with time. This is a stack of 33 x 10 second frames stacked in DeepSkyStacker. Prince George, BC, Nov 16, 2013.