I photographed Comet Lovejoy, C/2014 Q2 in Houston with some clouds, and a nearly first quarter Moon... so, a lot of light pollution going on. Just finding it was a chore. But, here it is. You'll see way better photos of it, but I couldn't get out to the dark site to photograph it, so here's the light-polluted version. I'll try to get a better shot next time it comes around... in 8,000 years!

This is a pretty noisy pic I took of the Andromeda Galaxy, M31, about 2.5 million light years away. When photons of light from this galaxy started their journey to Earth, the Early Stone Age, or the Lower Paleolithic, was just getting started. She's surrounded by 14 satellite galaxies, two of which are easily visible here, M32 and M110.

Here is another photo of the diffuse Orion Nebula, cataloged as Messier 42/43, M42/43, or NGC 1976/1982. It is 24 light years across, 1,344 light years away, and has a mass 2000 times that of our Sun. Because a nearly full Moon was out, I only had a window of about 2 hours after it set, and I photographed several objects, so I didn't spend as much time on this one as I wanted. This photo comprises 20-30 second exposures at 1600ISO through an EdgeHD 8" telescope, 1422mm f/7, with a Canon 60Da camera.

Here is the Great Orion Nebula (M42/43) and its neighbor to the north, The Running Man Nebula (NGC1973/1975/1977). When I look at a deep space object through the lens of my telescope, I think, how far, and how long have these photons of light traveled to end up in my retina? And when they started their journey, what was happening on our Earth? These photons of light traveled at 186,000 miles per hour, and considering the distance to Earth from these nebulae, they travelled for 1,344 years, eventually winding up in my eye. When they started their initial journey, in 670 AD, this is what was happening in Earth history:

Arab-Byzantine War: The Arab fleet dominates the Aegean Sea and conquers the strategic islands, Rhodes, Cos and Chios. The southern shore of the Sea of Marmara is taken, providing an excellent base at Cyzicus to begin the blockade of Constantinople by sea.

February 15 – King Oswiu of Northumbria dies during a pilgrimage to Rome in the company of bishop Wilfrid. He is succeeded by his son Ecgfrith, while his youngest son Ælfwine becomes king of Deira. Oswiu is buried at Whitby Abbey, alongside Edwin of Northumbria.

Arabian Empire
Muslim Conquest: Arab forces (10,000 men) under general Uqba ibn Nafi invade the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa. He establishes a military base at Kairouan (Tunisia) for further invasions and founds the Great Mosque also known as the "Mosque of Uqba".

Asia
Battle of Dafei River: Chinese forces (80,000 men) under general Xue Rengui of the Tang Dynasty are annihilated by the Tibetans, who take over control of the Tarim Basin.

A Goguryeo restoration movement, led by Geom Mojam in northern Korea, places Anseung on the throne. Geom is later murdered and Anseung flees to neighboring Silla.

Tarumanagara (modern Indonesia) is divided into two kingdoms: Sunda Kingdom and Galuh Kingdom with the Citarum River as the boundary (approximate date).

A family register, Kogo-nenjaku, is prepared in Japan (approximate date).

Hōryū-ji, Japanese Buddhist temple, burns to the ground after being hit by lightning; its reconstruction is immediately begun.

The diocese of Dorchester-on-Thames in England is replaced by the Diocese of Winchester (approximate date).

Births:
Bertrada of Prüm, Merovingian princess (approximate date)
Childebert III, king of the Franks (approximate date)
Corbinian, Frankish bishop (approximate date)
Drogo, Carolingian duke of Champagne (d. 708)
Petronax, Italian monk and abbot (approximate date)
Smbat VI, Armenian prince (approximate date)
Tariq ibn Ziyad, Muslim general (d. 720)
Tatwine, archbishop of Canterbury (approximate date)
Tridu Songtsen, emperor of Tibet (d. 704)
Wihtred, king of Kent (approximate date)

Deaths
Audomar, bishop of Thérouanne (approximate date)
August 18 – Fiacre, Irish hermit
Geom Mojam, military leader of Goguryeo
March 9 – Hasan ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad and Shi'a Imam (b. 625)
Javanshir, king of Caucasian Albania
Li Chunfeng, Chinese mathematician and historian (b. 602)
Merewalh, king of Magonsæte (approximate date)
February 15 – Oswiu, king of Northumbria
Safiyya bint Huyayy, wife of Muhammad (approximate date)
Theodard, bishop of Maastricht (approximate date)