Since its discovery only weeks ago, Comet 2011 W3 (Lovejoy) has amazed astronomers by surviving a 140,000 km close encounter with the Sun to emerge into the Southern hemisphere’s dawn sky. Poor weather in Eastern Australia has prevented many people for looking for the comet but it has been photographed by its discoverer Terry Lovejoy. Amateur astronomers are eagerly awaiting clear skies in Eastern Australia to hopefully glimpse a view of the comet before it fades as it moves away from the Sun. I am assuming that the comet will be visible in binoculars for those with clear skies but this is really an unknown at this stage.
I used the highly recommended Sky Safari Pro Apple Ipad app to produce the above chart showing where the comet will be at 4 am AEST (5 am daylight savings time) tomorrow morning. Note that daylight was switched off so that the fainter stars are visible.
Above is the same region of sky but zoomed out for context. I have also set the controls to show daylight (or in this case morning twilight). The comet is still very close to the Sun. Over the next few days, Comet 2011 W3 will rapidly move away from the Sun but also rapidly fade. Hopefully clear weather will allow further observations. Note that the tail in the chart may not be accurate.
