13899901 - The extensive Gum Nebula area in Vela, an interstellar bubble blown by winds from hot stars, with the False Cross at left. This is a stack of 4 x 5 minute exposures at f/3.2 with the Sigma 50mm lens and filter-modified Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800. Taken from Coonabarabran, Australia, December 2012. High cloud added natural glows around stars. Star clusters NGC 2516 (below False Cross) and IC 2391 (right of false Cross) stand out. Superhot star Gamma Velorum is at centre.13899168 - A scene looking west on January 16, 2015 but with a field stretching up to and beyond the zenith overhead, taking in the Zodiacal Light stretching up to the Pleiades at upper left. Just below the Pleiades is green Comet Lovejoy, with its faint ion tail pointing away from the Sun along the same plane as the Zodiacal Light, as it should. Ion tails always point directly away from the Sun, as they are blown out by the solar wind. Comet Lovejoy was crossing the ecliptic this night, as it heads north in its orbit traveling almost perpendicular to the ecliptic plane.
