Where to Look for Comet Lovejoy Until it Fades from Sight

Monday, January 19, 2015

Where to Look for Comet Lovejoy Until it Fades from Sight

Where to Look for Comet Lovejoy Until it Fades from Sight:

Viewing Comet Lovejoy from dark skies in Portugal. Credit: Miguel Claro

Viewing Comet Lovejoy with binoculars from dark skies in Portugal on January 11th. Credit: Miguel Claro

I hate to admit it, but our dear comet is fading. Only a little though. As Comet Q2 Lovejoy wends its way from Earth toward perihelion and beyond, it will slowly dim and diminish. With an orbital period of approximately 8,000 years it has a long journey ahead. Down here on Earth, we continue to look up every clear night hoping for yet another look at what’s been a wonderful comet.

Comet Lovejoy and the Pleiades on January 19, 2015. Credit: Joseph Brimacombe

Despite its inevitable departure I encourage you to continue following Comet Lovejoy. It’s not often a comet vaults to naked eye brightness, and this one should remain visible without optical aid through mid-February.

Like a human celebrity, Lovejoy’s been the focus of attention from beginners and professionals alike using everything from cheap cellphone cameras to high-end telescopes to capture its magic. Who can get enough of that wildly fluctuating ion tail and greeny-blue coma?

Comet Q2 Lovejoy continues tracking north-northwest now through March. This chart shows the comet’s position at 7 p.m. (CST) every 5 nights through March 5. Stars shown to magnitude +6. Click to enlarge. Created with Chris Marriott’s SkyMap software

The comet continues moving northward all winter long, sliding through the diminutive constellations Aries and Triangulum, across Andromeda and into Cassiopeia, fading as she goes. You can use the map above and binoculars to help you follow it. I like to create lines and triangles using bright stars and deep sky objects to direct me to the comet.

Deep image of Comet Lovejoy taken with a Canon 6D with 50mm f/1.4 lens at f/2. 10 exposure of 30 secs at ISO3200 stacked. The tail, though faint, extends for possibly 18 degrees in this amazing image. Credit: Ian Sharp

Deep image of Comet Lovejoy taken with a Canon 6D with 50mm f/1.4 lens at f/2. Ten exposures of 30 secs at ISO3200 were stacked to create the final photo. The tail extends for possibly 18 degrees in this amazing image. The Pleiades are at top right; Hyades at bottom center. Credit: Ian Sharp

Tonight for instance, Lovejoy one fist held at arm’s length due west of the Pleiades. On the 29th, it’s on a line from Beta Persei (Algol) to Beta Trianguli. On February 3rd, it pulls right up alongside the colorful double star Gamma Andromedae, also called Almach, and on the 8th forms one of the apexes of an equilateral triangle with the two Betas. You get the idea.

The tail rays that show so clearly in photographs as in this image made on January 16th require dark skies and 8-inch or larger telescope to see visually. They're very low contrast. Credit: Greg Redfern

The tail rays that show so clearly in photographs as in this image made on January 16th require dark skies and an 8-inch or larger telescope to see visually. They’re very low contrast. Credit: Greg Redfern

The waxing moon will interfere with viewing beginning next weekend and render the comet nil with the naked eye, you’ll still be able to track it in binoculars during that time. Dark skies return around Feb. 7.

Comet Lovejoy captured from the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, Portugal on Jan. 11th by Miguel Claro

Delicate streamers show in Comet Lovejoy’s ion tail in this photo from January 13th. Credit: Bernhard Hubl

About Bob King

I'm a long-time amateur astronomer and member of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). My observing passions include everything from auroras to Z Cam stars. Every day the universe offers up something both beautiful and thought-provoking. I also write a daily astronomy blog called Astro Bob.

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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

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The Oxford English Dictionary defines a UFO as "An unidentified flying object; a 'flying saucer'." The first published book to use the word was authored by Donald E. Keyhoe. The acronym "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who headed Project Blue Book, then the USAF's official investigation of UFOs. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO (pronounced Yoo-foe) for short." Other phrases that were used officially and that predate the UFO acronym include "flying flapjack", "flying disc", "unexplained flying discs", "unidentifiable object", and "flying saucer". The phrase "flying saucer" had gained widespread attention after the summer of 1947. On June 24, a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier. Arnold timed the sighting and estimated the speed of discs to be over 1,200 mph (1,931 km/h). At the time, he described the objects' shape as being somewhat disc-like or saucer-like, leading to newspaper accounts of "flying saucers" and "flying discs". In popular usage the term UFO came to be used to refer to claims of alien spacecraft. and because of the public and media ridicule associated with the topic, some investigators prefer to use such terms as unidentified aerial phenomenon (or UAP) or anomalous phenomena, as in the title of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).

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Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Monday, January 19, 2015