Comet Lovejoy Q2

[Moonshane]

here's my sketch from last night with the 120mm f5 frac and 26mm Nagler. Low in the mirk but pretty bright. A lot brighter than M79.

[Davey-T]

Just got a glimpse of it between the trees and set the mount tracking, have to wait about an hour for it to come out from behind the trees now, looks brighter than last night but that's probably because it's higher up.

To find it using DSLR in portrait mode with auto rotate turned off with Nihal in the top left of the frame the comet is just in the bottom right.

Dave

[Owmuchonomy]

Just came back under a crystal clear sky from a meal out in Harrogate and I grabbed my 7x50 Nikon binos. Picked it out immediately by hopping a similar distance South below the Hare's ' middle'. Yes just a fuzzy blob but easily seen and apparently of significant size. One for the Dob at the next chance I think.

[John]

I've just spotted Lovejoy Q2 with my cheapo 10x50 binoculars. It's very near the tree / rooflines here but easy to spot when you know where it is. No sign of M79 with the bins when it's that low though. I have the ED120 out currently so I'm hoping to view the comet through that when it rises a little higher, assuming everything is not frozen up by then - pretty cold night here !

Nice sketch Shane

[Paul M]

I just found it too at sbout 9:15

I have a great southern horizon from my site in Cumbria.

Didn't need to use any precision star hopping. I just imagined it as being forming an almost right angle triangle with Sirius and Rigel and pointed the 10x 50 's in that general area.

Picked up Q2 on the first sweep.

Although it wasn't as bright as I'd anticipated it was obviously a comet.

The bright Moon and a hint of low altitude haze were taking their toll on sky darkness.

I'll try again after moonset.

It's a beautiful but bitterly cold night here.

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[happy-kat]

I tried twice now tonight using 8 x 30 bins which perhaps are too small.

Surprisingly I could see that part of the sky but it is very close to a LED street lamp that sits 35 odd feet from me and combined that with the low haze and a tree line I guess I was pretty doomed to not spot it.

Used Arneb to Nihal line to look in the area.

Will try again tomorrow, it is too low for the telescope as I also have plants and a teasel that would block the low line of sight for the Heritage floor siting.

[sharkmelley]

Easily visible in small binos tonight (midnight) in reasonably dark skies.  Within a degree of  m79 and much brighter than M79.  In a 60 sec exposure its tail is easily visible sweeping past M79.

Mark

[John]

I managed to get a scope on it eventually and it's a nice little comet though so low down here right now that it's not looking it's best really. I got M79 in the same field of view at 33x, which was nice

[kerrylewis]

Got it! In my 18x50 bins first and then with the SCT as it finally cleared my garage roof and the house opposite. Brighter than the nearby m79 as others have said. No sign of a tail for me but skies pretty ropey here in that area of sky. Just pleased to have seen another new comet and very much look forward to tracking it in the coming weeks.

[Special K]

Wow! This is sounding pretty exciting

I had a look with the 10x50's and am pretty unfamiliar with the area in Lepus. I followed the line from Alpha and Beta to a magnitude 5 star near M79. I saw a smudge to the east of this star and thought it must be M79. However, now I'm doubting that it was M79?!!!! I looked for another faint object in the area but couldn't see one. Is it more likely I saw the comet and not M79 which is magnitude 8.0?

[sharkmelley]

Yes - the comet is far brighter than M79 (see image of them both in the imaging section of the forum) and was almost certainly what you saw.

Mark

[Paul73]

Mark is right. I was looking for it in my 10x50's as well. M74 is a tough one and in the same FOV as Lovejoy. If you only saw one fuzzy, it was the comet.

I was amazed at the comet's brightness. Looked even better in the Dob!

Does anyone know if it is likely to grow a brighter tail?

Paul

[kerrylewis]

Wow! This is sounding pretty exciting

I had a look with the 10x50's and am pretty unfamiliar with the area in Lepus. I followed the line from Alpha and Beta to a magnitude 5 star near M79. I saw a smudge to the east of this star and thought it must be M79. However, now I'm doubting that it was M79?!!!! I looked for another faint object in the area but couldn't see one. Is it more likely I saw the comet and not M79 which is magnitude 8.0?

I agree with the other comments Kevin. I could not see M79 with my binoculars but the comet was clear - so I think you can be sure that you saw it.

[John]

Wow! This is sounding pretty exciting

I had a look with the 10x50's and am pretty unfamiliar with the area in Lepus. I followed the line from Alpha and Beta to a magnitude 5 star near M79. I saw a smudge to the east of this star and thought it must be M79. However, now I'm doubting that it was M79?!!!! I looked for another faint object in the area but couldn't see one. Is it more likely I saw the comet and not M79 which is magnitude 8.0?

The comet is larger and a fair bit brighter than M79 so I'd say it was most likely the comet. I could not see M79 with my 10x50 binoculars last night but the comet was clear. When I got the scope on it M79 was visible a bit above the comet but in the same field of view.

[Mark at Beaufort]

I used my 180mm Mak/Cass last night as I had been observing the Moon and some double stars in Aries. My southern aspect is very clear with no light pollution. I used my 21mm Ethos to study the Comet and the head is quite bright and I had some tenuous views of a tail. Moved the scope slightly to get a nice view of M79. I also had the 80mm f5 frac on the other side of the SkyTee 2 which again showed the Comet head but no tail.

[Special K]

Thanks all for confirming, much appreciated. I would have had a longer look had I known it was Q2! It was an uncomfortable vantage point from the velux window looking forward to January when it has increased DEC. Clear skies!

[Laurie61]

I managed Q2 as well last night, about 22:50. Not great conditions with some stubborn high cloud and haze lower down but quite obvious once in the FOV. I used my 8x40's. I will have a go with the big bino's tonight (25x) and hope for better transparency Looks promising for the next few weeks     

[Pete Presland]

got it as well last night around 11pm, easy spot in 15x70's. A nice hazy nucleus, could not see any tail visible.

[Paul M]

After my earlier success last night I tried again when the moon was low on the horizon.

Unfortunately the sky had clouded over

Lovely evening here in Cumbria again but the forecast is for cloud moving in.

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[kerrylewis]

Just spotted again with the binoculars. Easy to find despite rather mushy skies to the south. This is going to be a cracker when it climbs a little higher  - can't wait!

[Stu]

Managed to get this tonight which I'm pleased about.

I'm up near Radcliffe on Trent but in a small development surrounded by countryside. The skies aren't bad, LP low down and a few bright lights from commercial buildings.

The view to the south is obstructed from the garden, so I had a wander out to across the green and found a clear view.

Rather foolishly I had not got my binos with me so had to do a bit of improvising. Hand held Tak FS-60C with a 24mm Panoptic giving x15 and a 4.6 degree field of view [emoji12]

I followed a line from Alpha and Beta Lep and soon picked it up. It was in exactly the right position in the star field according to SkySafari, but no sign of M79.

Not a spectacular view, looked quite similar to Shane's sketch. Just an indistinct fuzzy patch with a brightening towards the centre but no tail.

Looking forward to tracking this over the coming weeks, plus getting a bigger scope on it.

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[mdstuart]

Saw it tonight in my 130mm reflector...looks like M87 to me....Much brighter than M79....Amazing object...

[John]

I saw it earlier this evening with my 10x50 binoculars and I've just been having a gander at it with the ED120 refractor. Pretty bright with a tightly condensed nucleus. As Mark says much brighter than M79. As it gets higher in the sky I hope to get the 12" dob onto it. Currently it's low down between a house and a large chestnut tree - hardly ideal but we take what we can get with backyard astronomy !

[David Smith]

I picked it up in my 10x50s tonight too. Surprised how bright it was. Too low and too many trees on my southern horizon to be able to point any of my scopes at it though.

[Pete Presland]

An easy spot tonight after last nights first view, amazed how far it has moved. Took a few wide fields of it with the 50mm and then the 200mm, showing up quite nicely on the play back screen.