Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) was discovered in August 2014 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy. By January 2015 it had reached magnitude 4 and was a naked-eye comet. These images were obtained in January 2015 from Santa Fe. Three lenses were used: a Nikon 50mm f/1.2 Ai-s, Rokinon 85mm f/1.4, and a Vivitar 135mm f/2.3 Series 1.
The images were obtained with a Sony A7 camera and are newly processed (after more than 11 years) from the raw files using Affinity Photo image-editing software. Strong white-balance corrections were required to compensate for the red skyglow present in urban Santa Fe. Exposure times varied between 15 to 30 sec.
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| Comet Lovejoy near the Hyades (left) and Pleiades (top), 15 Jan. Nikon 50mm f/1.2. |
The comet exhibited the typical green glow of diatomic carbon. A hint of the tail is visible in this 30-s exposure at ISO 800.
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| 10 January. Rokinon 85mm f/1.4. |
The motion of the comet was easily observable over short time intervals. The composite image below spans 4.6 h, during which the comet moved about 0.6°.
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| 10 January, Rokinon 85mm. Three-image composite. |
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| 16 January, Vivitar 135mm. |
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