I’ve finally finished processing all of the images from the January 16-18 weekend of comet Lovejoy, from the Cota 1000 site.
The following images are the results from the second night (Jan 17-18), acquired with the TS 65Q APO Refractor (65 mm diameter, 420 mm focal length) and Canon 550D with guiding via PHD software onto the NEQ6 mount.
The base result is a stack of 15 frames at ISO 800 and 1600, and exposures of 4 minutes.
While trying to get the best out of the images, I’ve ended up with a few versions of the original image, some which present perhaps better the tail details. The sequence below shows the following:
-the final version of the image in colors, with stars;
-the same image but a little over-exposed, in black-and-white;
-the same as the previous, but inverted to better see the tail;
-a specially processed image to get the best out of the tail details, with no stars;
-the same as the previous, but inverted, again to better see the details in the tail.
And a small mosaic, out of 5 frames at ISO 800 and 5 minutes exposure for each panel, showing the extent of the tail:
The comet is very dynamic still, but since the weather these days is not cooperating, I can only watch the evolution of the comet’s tail on the Internet…
Hope I’ll get another personal view of Lovejoy soon.
Max
maximus photography 
Very nice photos! After a month of trying I managed to catch 6 good wide photos of the sky with the comet at Gura Diham. Unfortunately after another month of trying to stack these photos in DSS and Registax and a few others I still can’t make my final photo better than the original. Is it something I’m doing wrong? Can you give me an address where we can talk in more detail? Thank you!
Thank you Dan. You can contact me at maximilian/dot/teodorescu/arond/infim/dot/ro for details about processing those images. Change the /dot/ and /arond/ from the above address with the corresponding signs.