iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

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 · 17/04/2026

Morning sky over Moreton Bay near Brisbane. One "comet" is a lighthouse beam and the other is an actual comet (C/2025 R3).

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

This could be from dust sublimation. The conditions are so extreme that the dust that reflects sunlight is being turned to vapour.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

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.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Fitsliberator to export the files to tiff, then used Maxim DL to align crop the images and finally PIPP to create the animated GIF

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

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/

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Looking forward to the paper. Enjoyed the teaser image :)

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) passes earths orbit on its way to a close encounter with the sun on April 5.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

I've blocked out some time at Siding Spring following the start of the eclipse. Fingers crossed for clear skies!

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

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.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Its amazing what these scopes can do for their size!

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

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.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 14/02/2026

Timelapse over 4 weeks (Jan 19 - Feb 13) showing the steady brightening of Comet MAPS as it dives towards the sun.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

I remember that Dan. I think I may have made some enquiries with the BAA to see if they had some of the originals but unfortunately nothing could be found.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

This seems to be the only photo taken of the comet during the eclipse that hasn't gone missing. Hopefully others will turn up sometime in the future.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

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.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

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.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

This is what I a seeing as well with the last set of observations.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

No I didn't, the sky is way too bright in that direction to pick up a 7th magnitude comet (at least in small binoculars). Maybe tomorrow.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

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.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Great detective work by you and Gary!

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Andrew Pearce wrote to Bill Gray to see if the 3 new positions had much impact on the computed orbit and the answer is not really. We would need better astrometry across the whole observing arc. Nominally, he has perihelion Sep 2061 +/- 7 months.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Here is some more images from Cordoba.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

FOV is 2.33 x 2.33 degrees and star 25 Ceti is to the lower right

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Big thanks to Andrew and Perth Observatory! Hope they don't me posting the April 24, 1917, image which I help clean up so they could plate solve it.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Comet C/1963 A1 (Ikeya) doppelgänger?

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

"Nice chops" as we would say here in Oz!

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

Not nearly enough, its my escapism. I love that it is an easy 3 hour flight from near tropical Brisbane to here.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

G. P. Bond is credited with taking the first ever photograph of a comet. Comet C/1858 L1 (Donati) on Sep 28, 1858.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

I think it was close to 10km round trip and just under 1000m vertical climb. I chose not to go all the way to the summit which would have added another 3.5km and 350m vertical. You can see why here -->

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

I always consider C/2014 Q2 the doppelganger for C/2004 Q2. Similar orbit, brightness as well as passage across the sky, almost exactly 10 years apart!

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Did you want to borrow my reciprocating saw?

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Only 101 years to wait for the next return - which should be an impressive return!

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Reposted by Terry Lovejoy

Maik Meyer ☄️ @comethunter.de · 17/08/2025

#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

Image of comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) by Michael Jäger, https://fg-kometen.vdsastro.de/pix/test/bild.php?nr=11759

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 06/08/2025

Very nice comet, it was awesome seeing a 5th magnitude comet and Supernova 1987A together in binoculars.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

As part of my normal morning routine, I go to bsky and look for the latest #bskycometograph y post :) Keep posting Maik!

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

Turns out Davidson discovered C/1889 O1 from the town of Walkerston, QLD. Not knowing where Walkerston is (QLD is a very large state) I had to look it up. Turns out it was a town I frequently drove through for work in the 1990's. Even ran out of fuel there once and had to push the car :(

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

This was a very nice comet. I had a fabulous view of it on August 4, 1984, through a 40cm scope at low elevation. It was striking with individual ion tail streamers clearly visible emanating from a highly condensed mag 4-5 coma.

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Andrew Pearce has been doing a fantastic job at doing comet photometry from scans of old plates taken from Perth Observatory. He sent through this image of C/1970 N1 from July 8, 1970, when he obtained m1=10.4 with a coma of 2.2'.

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