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Comet Lovejoy Q2


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Some nice shots there, really great to see movement in such a short time frame.

Had some good views tonight, similar to the images but no colour obviously. Looking forward to the moon clearing off!

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I've just been looking at it with my ED120. Nice though thin cloud is taking the edge off it at the moment. Seems to have a very star-like centre, unless it's actually sat on top of a star that is !

It might be a naked eye object here without the cloud.

Saw it also through the 10" for first time :) did look like a star like centre! Shame moon washed it out a bit, saw around 730 when moon wasn't too high though
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I've just been looking at it with my ED120. Nice though thin cloud is taking the edge off it at the moment. Seems to have a very star-like centre, unless it's actually sat on top of a star that is !

I had the same this evening - seemed to have a real pinpoint of light at the core at times, very star-like...unless it's the resolving power of the TV Plossl ;)

Can't wait to see it again in a non-Moon sky...should be beautiful passing the Hyades.

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Reached its closest point to Earth around 7am, now it's moving away from us.

That's a very good point as it reached an 'opposition' with Earth (if that's a correct expression for this type of thing).  The comet's orbit is roughly at a right angle to our orbit of the sun.  An interesting pic from the Daily Mail below. 

post-26205-0-73705900-1420647174_thumb.j

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I have just stent 45 mins in the minus 7 degrees :eek:  we have on offer at the moment looking for Lovejoy with and without Bino's.  The first thing that struck me was just how far it has moved since two and three nights back, it really has its skates on and believe me you need them outside tonight. It has travelled so far that I almost thought it had dimmed dramatically and could no longer be seen, I was simply looking in the wrong place, one of these days I will learn how to load comets to a laptop program. With bino's I would say that the comet is brighter than a few nights back but it was lower in the sky then and I would say very difficult to estimate the magnitude as it is not a point source like a star. It is of course possible that it is no brighter at all, just higher and I am seeing it through less atmosphere than before.

Now tonight whilst clear is not wonderful and transparent like last night was before the snow and I would say zenith was mag 5 and a bit at best. Now I fully believe that Lovejoy is naked eye but try as I did I would not put a claim to seeing it tonight but feel sure I would have last night had it not been wearing a designer cloud tutu. I will be trying again tomorrow as I don't at the moment at least se it getting any better sky wise :embarrassed: .

I will be checking later when the comet is higher in the sky, you never know your luck.

Alan

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The weather has been "pants" here since the beginning of the weekend which is just as well as I have been

over a southampton dealing with the Solent's temporary extra Island.

Back home last night and found the Comet just about to Cross the River, right on the top bend of Eridanus.

It looked good for 4.8 despite a big moon nearby and a slightly icy/hazy sky. I could not see it with the N/E

as the background sky was too bright, but it really stood out on my 10 by 50s.

In the scope the halo around the very bright nucleus looks to be more extended than it was 4 days ago, may be a function

of distance, or it may just be kicking-off a bit.

The skies are leaden again this evening (doubly bad news as I have just had a pair of Revelatio-Astro 15x70s delivered)

Still, the moon will be nearly 30 degrees out of the area by tomorrow eve. (Pity the forecast does not say as much about

the wind and cloud)

Mick

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Hi Kevin, weather permitting, the coming week(s) is primetime: moon is receding in distance and brightness while Lovejoy is nearing the top of its theoretical brightness curve. It will likely decrease somewhat in brightness over January but at the same time it is moving north, thus giving us a better view nearer to zenith in northern latitudes.

Best to take every opportunity ASAP!!!!!

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It's still 3 weeks away from perihelion so Q2's intrinsic brightness might increase further and it's visual magnitude could hold steady or possibly increase for a while longer.

Lets's hope this one is only just getting going. 

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Thank-you, that's really good to know.   I had a good view of it on the evening of the 6th - similar to Ludd's picture-  but as already mentioned here, the Moon was so bright that night :undecided:   Fingers x'd for a clearer spell ahead  :clouds1:

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Well it is already minus 8 outside and the sky is better than that of last night.

I have to say I pleased to confirm something we all thought and that is Lovejoy is naked eye. I am satified I can see it but would not be able to without first locating it with bino's, it is not a comet where you would shout "look what's that there in the sky" but there in the sky it is. I really feel it would be much easier if I did not have a snow covering but I am not going to be able to clear that in a hurry. Saturday is forecast warmer and the snow should melt so weather permitting Sunday or Monday should be better to if it is more obvious without all the reflected light from the snow.

Alan.

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Nice view from my 'observing platform' (aka a flat roof) just now with the 100ED on the  Portamount. With a bit of magnification with the Baader zoom it shows a nice stellar core and and an even round coma. No sign of a tail but I will try again later before the moon rises if the skies remain clear. Still not naked eye with my LP but visible with the Vixen 2.1 binoculars - again very stellar 

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Another good view but now the sky is beginning to murk over. Best view with the 18x50s - easy to find and comparatively bright. 

My little bit of flat roof is accessed via quite a small low window from my study (poor design!) and it is odds on that the tripod legs get caught up with the venetian blinds cords as I climb out in the dark desperately trying to maintain dark adaption. Then just as I'm set up and ready to go my wife switches on the kitchen lights (kitchen window is just below) - she should be watching Eastenders! So, it takes a comet, or something, equally interesting to make me want to negotiate all this instead of staying on terra firma.

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Still looking very good to night it really is shifting position night to night. looked at it through the 200mm, not sure it was that much better than the 15x70's to be honest.

I agree Pete. With no sign of a tail the view through the scope didn't add much to that through binoculars. We seem to be having a few of these comets recently - they are quite far from the sun which means that we se them in dark skies as opposed to those which lurk down in the twilight. However, the latter type are more likely to sprout nice tails. But - I still like these fuzzballs and tracking their progress.

Complete cloud here now but the forecast for Sat night is looking promising for Q2 and perhaps the 'all the planets extravaganza'. 

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