A few years ago I captured Comet Panstarrs and it was quite the adventure. The comet was closely chasing the sun and being paced by the moon. At least in my part of the world you could not see it with the naked eye. However, doing a bit of homework I was able to triangulate its location and captured it.
This time around I was hunting Comet Lovejoy. The challenges? Light pollution, so I knew I would not be able to see it with my eyes. This would not be a problem as I could use the stars and constellations to navigate the night sky to its location... which was the problem. I could see some of the constellations, but many of them were washed out by the surrounding light pollution. It could be that I'm dumb, but after 40 minutes I was able to figure out where it was. I started with my 50mm to capture a wide swath of sky. Once I located it I placed it in the center of my frame, verified with another picture, and quickly swapped in my 90mm. Recentered, and then changed lenses to my 300mm. After a good bit of adjusting the light pollution out and compensating for the inversion (trapped hazy fog pollution) I was able to produce this image.
Very satisfied with the image and now I will calmly wait for the next great space traveler. However, I promise I will not be waiting around the 8000 years for Lovejoy to return. I have much better things to do over the next few millenniums.
This time around I was hunting Comet Lovejoy. The challenges? Light pollution, so I knew I would not be able to see it with my eyes. This would not be a problem as I could use the stars and constellations to navigate the night sky to its location... which was the problem. I could see some of the constellations, but many of them were washed out by the surrounding light pollution. It could be that I'm dumb, but after 40 minutes I was able to figure out where it was. I started with my 50mm to capture a wide swath of sky. Once I located it I placed it in the center of my frame, verified with another picture, and quickly swapped in my 90mm. Recentered, and then changed lenses to my 300mm. After a good bit of adjusting the light pollution out and compensating for the inversion (trapped hazy fog pollution) I was able to produce this image.
Very satisfied with the image and now I will calmly wait for the next great space traveler. However, I promise I will not be waiting around the 8000 years for Lovejoy to return. I have much better things to do over the next few millenniums.
Last edited: