- Southern Hemisphere Sky Events

Where to look for C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) tonight

(Posted 5 January 2015) Once January’s Full Moon is out of the way (5 January 2015), you might want to dust off your binoculars and look for what is likely to be 2015’s brightest comet – Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2). The comet was discovered by Australian amateur comet hunter Terry Lovejoy in August 2014  and will be closest to the Earth on 7 January 2015 at a mere 70 million kilometers away.

Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2 on 30 December 2014 (c) Tony Surma-Hawes 2014. Used with permission.
Comet Lovejoy C/2014 Q2 on 30 December 2014 (c) Tony Surma-Hawes 2014. Used with permission.

Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) is expected to be at its brightest in the two weeks after 7 January 2015 meaning that casual skywatchers will have plenty of opportunity to look at the comet through binoculars before it revisits the inner solar system again in approximately 8,000 years.

Queensland amateur astronomer Mr Tony Surma-Hawes described the comet as ” ….very obvious in binoculars and appearing as greyish in colour.” The green colour of Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2)’s coma easily visible in Mr Surma-Hawes’s image of the comet (see above) is caused by diatomic Carbon gas being released by the comet’s nucleus fluorescing (or ‘glowing’) in response to the ultraviolet radiation being emitted by the Sun.

Saturn finder chart. Chart prepared for 8:30 pm AEST on Wednesday 15 April 2015 for the Gold Coast, Queensland (but will be also useful for elsewhere in Eastern Australia). Chart prepared using the highly recommended Sky Safari Pro tablet app. Used with permission.
Comet 2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) finder chart. Chart prepared for 8:30 pm AEST / 9:30 pm AEDT on 5 – 14 January 2015 for the Gold Coast, Queensland (but will be also useful for elsewhere in Eastern Australia). Chart prepared using the highly recommended Sky Safari Pro tablet app. Used with permission.

To maximise your chances of locating Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2), it is recommended that you look for the comet with binoculars and a copy of the above finder chart from a location away from city lights. Binoculars are preferred for observing comets because they provide a wider field of view and more contrast than most telescopes. Sadly, the comet will not display the bright tail visible in the finder chart. You are looking for a greyish coloured patch of fuzzy light that will be easier to see if you do not look at it directly.

This four-image mosaic comprises images taken from a distance of 20.1 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 10 December. The image resolution is 1.71 m/pixel and the mosaic measures 2.9 x 2.6 km. Image credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
Above: This four-image mosaic comprises images taken from a distance of 20.1 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 10 December 2014. The image resolution is 1.71 m/pixel and the mosaic measures 2.9 x 2.6 km. Image credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

What you won’t be able to see in your view of Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) is what gets amateur astronomers excited. At the heart of Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) is a gigantic dirty iceberg in space – erupting vast quantities of gas and dust (to a much lesser degree) into space. Close up views of another comet (see the above example) are currently being provided by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta Spacecraft.

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