Lovejoy was well-positioned for imaging through a break in the trees in my backyard. Clouds were not due till 7 am.
So I set up an imaging rig: wide field, color camera, and guidescope so I could try guiding on the comet.
I took some test images late evening, got some sleep, then woke up at 2:45. Everything looked great!
I slewed to Procyon to focus, then over to the comet's location. The comet was bright in the "find and focus" camera mode! I was excited!
Guide calibration took five minutes. I punched up 35 2-minute sub-frames and hit "go!"
A few seconds later I checked the guiding program and saw ... what's that? Trees? Am I into the trees? I dashed outside.
Clouds! Not just a few puffy trailblazers. The whole sky was full! Aargh!
There was a small break just south of the comet. The clouds were moving nearly straight north. I dashed back in, re-started the 2-minute frames, then hoped the break would last long enough for one. It did!
I have one cloudless sub-frame of Lovejoy. That was it. The clouds never broke after that. Fifteen minutes later I broke down the rig and pulled everything inside.
Lots of work for a two-minute sub.
Would I do it again? Of course.
Telescope: Astro-Tech AT65EDQ and TeleVue NPR-1073 (eff. at f/5.2)
Camera and Exposure: SXVF-H9C (1x120"), Alnitak Flat-man flats
Filter: IDAS LPS-P2
Guiding: Meade DSI Pro and Hutech 50mm
Mount: Takahashi EM-10
Software: Nebulosity, Maxim DL, Photoshop CS3
Location: The Woodlands, TX
