Comet Lovejoy (discovered by Australian comet hunter Terry Lovejoy) as a spectacular comet at the perfect time of year for Australian’s to enjoy it – summer, and especially over the Christmas/new year break.
Comet Lovejoy was not as popular with the media or general population as the previous great comet “Comet McNaught” but I believe this was as much because Comet Lovejoy was an early morning comet (4am) not an evening object.
The tail of Comet Lovejoy stretched high in to the south-west sky up from the south-west horizon almost like a search beam. In the days leading up to the actual head being visible above the horizon before dawn it was easy to think a search light was shining up from the horizon and not realise a comet was rising.
Below are some photographs I took of C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy).
