December 27, 2014 ALP Comet Stargazing Session Report
by James Kevin Ty
Images by James Kevin Ty and Andrew Ian Chan

Last December 27, A last minute decision by ALPers James Kevin Ty, Andrew Ian Chan and Shubhashish Banerjee to go to Nasugbu , Batangas instead of the traditional Caliraya site because of unfavorable weather condition paid off as they were blessed with a perfectly clear cloudless sky the entire night till morning to observe the brightening Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy. They arrived at Johndel Beach Resort at around 10:45pm and started to unload their stuff to their rooms.

ALPers James Kevin Ty brought along his Canon EOS500D DSLR with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens mounted on a Vixen GP-DX mount. Andrew Ian Chan brought along his Canon EOS 500D DSLR on Skywatcher 80ED refractor on Vixen GP mount while Shubhashish Banerjee with his Canon EOS 350D DSLR mounted on Andrew's Vixen Polarie mount.

After getting some rest, they started to setup their equipment and started to locate Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy which is located between Columba and Lepus area that night. After checking for a short while, they located the comet which is almost visible to the naked eye at around mag 5.6 and sporting a +/- 2 degree tail! As expected from a good weather, equipment gremlins started to creep in with our mounts not being able to track properly initially as well as PHD not working with James' autoguider because he brought along another laptop which he doesn't use in the field as the netbook he used to brought along imaging sessions died out :( In the end, they were able to recuperate and overcome the gremlins and still get good images of the comet. They later found out from fellow ALPer Manuel Goseco that our initial Caliraya site was completely clouded out entire evening and very muddy because it rained for several days already thus making the grounds muddy and damp.

They packed up their stuff at around 4:30am and get some rest after they took their traditional group shot :) They are looking forward for January 10 next year for another possible session here in Nasugbu or back in Caliraya.

ALPer Shubhashish Banerjee posed beside his Canon EOS 350D DSLR on Andrew's Vixen Polarie Star Tracker.	ALPer James Kevin Ty posed beside his Canon EOS 500D DSLR with Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens on Vixen GP-DX mount.
ALPer Andrew Ian Chan beside his Canon EOS 500D DSLR with Skywatcher 80ED refractor on Vixen GP mount.	M42 Orion Nebula by ALPer Andrew Ian Chan
Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy by ALPer Andrew Ian Chan	Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy by ALPer James Kevin Ty

ALPers had a good breakfast before heading back home.

Group Shot

Wacky Shot

Johndel Beach Resort Western Horizon