January 19, 2015 Comet Lovejoy from Panamint Valley

I made the 3.5 hour drive to dark skies on the 19th in order to photograph Comet Lovejoy 2014 q2 one last time.  The skies were mostly clear on the drive from Los Angeles to the northern deserts, but I had to deal with a narrow plume of annoying cirrus clouds.  This swath seemed to be pointed right at Trona as I continued north through the town a little before sunset.  If the clouds drifted north, I would be in  trouble.  But, fortunately, they moved east and maybe a little south, and seemed to be dissipating some.  So, the skies were okay in the southern Panamint Valley, north of Trona.

I set up my Celestron telescope and had the cameras ready as darkness descended.

I was surprised that the Zodiacal Light was so prominent!  The lights on the Panamint Range were from a mining operation which must run 24-7.

Above are some images of Comet Lovejoy and the constellation Orion.  The skies were dark enough to allow Barnard’s Loop to show up in long exposures.

And a few more of Lovejoy, Jupiter, and the Andromeda Galaxy.  Thank you to Brian Morganti who worked some software magic to make the image at the top of the page look so good.