Been lucky this time to get "lady" aurora for the 3 nights in a row from New Zealand. Here is a sample.
Terry Lovejoy
@cometguy.bsky.social
IT Systems Admin and Team Lead Would be House Renovator Dabbler of Photography Like Mountain walks Amateur Astronomer & Comet Discoverer
Morning sky over Moreton Bay near Brisbane. One "comet" is a lighthouse beam and the other is an actual comet (C/2025 R3).
The demise of Comet MAPS is shown well in this video spanning April 3-6. apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap26040...
APOD: 2026 April 9 – Destruction of Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS)
A different astronomy and space science related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.
apod.nasa.gov
Only hours away from its closest approach to the sun. Comet MAPS as seen from the SOHO LASCO C2 coronagraph with the sun behind the occulting disk at the top right.
Comet C/2026 A1 (MPAS) 5 days out from an extremely close pass to the sun. Animation made from images courtesy of the PUNCH mission. science.nasa.gov/mission/punch/
Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) passes earths orbit on its way to a close encounter with the sun on April 5.
Moonlight is hampering observations of Comet C/2026 A1 tonight. But nonetheless here it is taken remotely from Siding Spring Observatory using a 51cm F7 telescope March 1 (9:44 UT). Green filter magnitude 12.2.
Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) continues to brighten. I acquired this image early Feb 21 remotely from Chile using a 25cm f3.8 ASA Newtonian. Magnitude 13, a hint of tail and passing by spiral galaxy NGC1232.
Timelapse over 4 weeks (Jan 19 - Feb 13) showing the steady brightening of Comet MAPS as it dives towards the sun.
Darker skies, meant I could get a much deeper image of the new comet. This is a 5 x 5 degree crop. Sep 14 9hrs UT.
The new comet from home. This is September 13 8:47, 2025 UT. I've cropped it 4 x 4 degrees and I've marked the bright star Spica and Mars. The uneven sky background is a unfortunate consequence of strong light pollution from home.
How did a comet this bright go undetected until today? This is 3 x 1 degree crop from an image stack I made tonight (Sep 12 8:40 UT) from my balcony.
#bskycometography no. 272 C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) 2014 Aug 17: Discovered by @cometguy.bsky.social T. Lovejoy (Australia) at 15 mag. The comet reached 3-4 mag shortly prior perihelion (2015 Jan 27 at 1.28 au) and was last seen on 2016 Sep 10. Its period is about 7000 years. ☄️🔭 #CometWatch
Lovely day for a walk today, joined by a couple of friendly goats!
C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) Jan 13.715, 2025 UT- Processed from images courtesy of SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). An RGB image was created by mapping the color channels to images acquired with different filters using SOHO's LASCO C3 camera.
Didn't think I would get a view of G3 this morning due to low cloud, but when I checked back around 4:25am there it was in 10x42 binoculars an obvious comet with starlike coma. No magnitude estimate possible, but comparison of images with yesterday suggests m1=1.0.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) still very obvious in binoculars at mag 1.5. This mornings view Jan 6 18:10 UT with a 318mm f5.8 lens and Olympus em1.2.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) photographed using an iphone? Sure.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) now close to mag 1.5. From T75 Chile on Jan 5.
Brighter again tonight (2025 Jan 4.37 UT) at mag 1.9. This was made using the T75 25cm reflector at iTelescope's Chile facility.
Jan 3, 2025. Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) brighter still. Mag 2 this morning and clearly visible in 10x42 Binoculars (but not with naked eye). This view was from near Dalby, QLD.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) has brightened a magnitude in just 24 hours. Here it is Jan 2.75 UT at mag 3.7. This is tightly cropped 2 x 2 degree FOV. Quite easy to see in my 10-22x50mm Nikon binoculars.
C/2024 G3 peaking past some cloud on Dec 31 from Cleveland Pt, Queensland.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) still brightening nicely. Remotely imaged from iTelescope's Chile location on Jan 1. This is a 0.5x0.5 degree FOV.
Comet C/2024 G3 (upper right) and crescent moon together Dec 29. Single 10sec exposure from Chile (iTelescope) using a 135mm FL f3.5 lens. Comet is looking very healthy.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) on December 23.74 UT from Cleveland Pt, QLD, Australia. Now mag 6.5 :)
Comet C/2024 G3, with a tripod mounted 135mm lens. Here is my image this morning (Dec 21.74, 2024 UT) rising over Moreton Bay near Brisbane. Image is cropped to 8x8 degrees. 3 x 2.5sec exposures at 135mmF1.8.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) Dec 19.349 from iTelescope T75 scope (25cm F3.8) in Chile. This is a 0.5 degree FOV crop and a stack of 10x30sec exposures. Andrew Pearce obtained magnitude 7.6 with a 1.2' coma. Note he obtained mag 7.8 from my previous image on Dec 18.
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) Dec 18.353 from iTelescope T75 scope (25cm F3.8) in Chile. Thanks to iTelescope temporarily allow the scope to point near the horizon. This is a 0.5 degree FOV crop and a stack of 5x30sec exposures. My estimate from image using a 1.7' aperture is 7.6.
Comet C/2024 G3 Dec 10.35 from Chile (iTelescope T70). Looking good, mag 8.0-8.5 (more accurate measurement coming). FOV shown is 1.3x1.3 degrees.