Without the Moon, Comet Lovejoy is Magnificent

By Nancy Atkinson - February 9, 2015 at 9:14 AM UTC | Planetary Science

With the Moon rising later in the evening this weekend, astrophotographers have taken some spectacular pictures of Comet 2014 Q2 Lovejoy, which continues shine on! Enjoy a few photos here and check out more in

Universe Today's Flickr page.

Chris Schur

from Payson, Arizona took the above image with a 80mm f/4.6 Zeiss APO and a ST10xme ccd camera.

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Comet Lovejoy on February 8, 2015 seen with a 12.5" Newtonian from Payson, Arizona. Credit and copyright: Chris Schur. [/caption]

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Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, Widefield view, false color. Feb 8, 2015. Credit and copyright: Joseph Brimacombe.

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Comet Lovejoy Q2, Feb 7, 2015. Credit and copyright: Cajun Astro on Flickr. [/caption]

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com