A Lonesome Visitor from Space

We had a lonesome visitor in early January.
Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2 made its way across
the southern sky. This comet was first discovered
by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy
in August, 2014. Its orbital period for once around
the sun was calculated at 11,500 years! It made its
closest approach to earth on January 7, 2015, passing
some 70 million km from earth. It is now thought to
come back only after another 8,000 years.

Farewell lonesome visitor!

January 7 was a cloudy night on Pender and it remained
hidden. However, I was lucky on January 13. The sky
was brilliantly clear and I was able to capture the above
image above the trees on our property.