Comets in the sky right now

The comet Jacques (which is currently the brightest comet in the night sky) seems to like to be seen next to beautiful nebula. Here's last night's image by Rolando Ligustri, with the comet appearing in front of the IC 1396 nebula: www.astrobin.com...



It's very cool to see a comet with such a rich star field in the background. The nebula in this image is about 2,400 light years away from Earth, while the comet is just 0.573 AU away from Earth, closer than the Sun.

I managed to see it last night and also a couple of night ago, in my 10x42 binoculars. It was very faint (best seen with averted vision), and looked like a small blurry blob of faint light, with no tail or central condensation. Still, it was cool to see an actual comet.

Another beautiful comet in the night sky right now is C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, which as many of you probably know will pass very close to Mars this October. For now, it makes a great subject for astrophotographers like Marco Lorenzi, whos incredible image of this comet I'm presenting below. The comet is seen here as it passed next to the gigantic globular cluster 47 Tuc, which contains millions of stars:



Makse sure to check out the full-sized image: www.glitteringlights.com...

It's one of the most epic space images by an amateur I've seen. Words "my God, it's full of stars!" come to mind.

The comet and that humongous globular cluster (which can appear as large as the full moon under ideal sky conditions) are located in the southern sky, so cannot be seen from Europe or North America.

~~~

P.S. I said that it's an epic image, but when I look at that guy's other incredible images - like this one: www.glitteringlights.com... - I'm left speechless. Sadly, many such images go unnoticed, unless some popular science website or magazine posts them.

Get your binoculars ready for a new (relatively) bright comet coming in January 2015 - C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy).

Photo by Damian Peach


It is brightening very rapidly as it's approaching the Earth through December and January, and it is expected to brighten up to 5-6 mag (just on the edge of naked-eye visibility under a dark sky). In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps observable in excellent condition until late January. In the Northern Hemisphere, it keeps extremely low until mid December. But after that, it will be observable in excellent condition. - www.aerith.net...

Finding charts and a magnitude graph - www.aerith.net...
Live info - www.livecometdata.com...


Another stunning image by Gerald Rhemann:

A few people have already reported seeing the C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) with the naked eye. It's promising to be a great binoculars object from end of Dec through to February.

I'll try to snap it with my new Canon 600D and a variety of lens, never photographed a comet before.

In January, the comet will be fairly easy to find, as it will pass below the Orion, Taurus, and approach Cassiopeia.

a reply to: wildespace

Thanks for the update. Almost missed this one.

a reply to: Peeple

It's a real beauty! sen.com...


^^ photo from today, 14th Dec 2014, by Damian Peach.

In case you're wondering, the green colour of a comet's coma (the gaseous cloud around the nucleus) comes from ionised diatomic carbon (C2). Although many articles (and even many astronomers) attribute it to cyanogen (CN), that's not correct, as cyanogen emmits primarily in ultraviolet part of spectrum.

It's gonna be a big one, I'm sure. This is what the comets Elenin and ISON were promised to be, but failed to deliver.

Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is continuing to brighten and developing a glorious tail.

Tonight's picture from Damian Peach:



It should make a very nice show in binoculars, and perhaps even a naked-eye object from rural and suburban locations.

Although the mainstream media aren't pimping this comet as much as they did Elenin or ISON, this is the one to look forward to.

~~~

If you don't already have binoculars, do yourself a favour and get a pair ( 10x50 is usually quoted as the standard ), they are relatively affordable, and offer so much more of the night sky than is visible to the naked eye. It's one thing to read about comets and look at pictures, but something special to see that tiny foggy patch of light yourself and realise you're looking at a real comet.

a reply to: wildespace

I live in the Northeastern United States (Pennsylvania), and we literally have not had a clear day in over one week. There was one night this past week with a few broken clouds and a few stars poking through, but that was about it. Other than that, nothing but overcast sky all and and all night.

Hopefully our weather will break soon enough for me to catch C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) with my binoculars, but the weather forecast for the next 7 days doesn't look very encouraging.

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People
a reply to: wildespace

I live in the Northeastern United States (Pennsylvania), and we literally have not had a clear day in over one week. There was one night this past week with a few broken clouds and a few stars poking through, but that was about it. Other than that, nothing but overcast sky all and and all night.

Hopefully our weather will break soon enough for me to catch C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) with my binoculars, but the weather forecast for the next 7 days doesn't look very encouraging.

The comet will be brightest - and better positioned in the sky for the Northern Hemisphere - in January (peaking around Jan 10th), so there's plenty of time for the weather to improve. For me in the UK, the comet has barely risen above the horizon and would be impossible to detect right now.



I hope that you get to take some great pictures of it.

I've spotted the comet last night in my 10x42 binoculars, and took some (very bad) pictures. The comet is now sufficiently high above the horizon to see from the UK, fog and light pollution notwithstanding. People have been reporting that you can see the comet's greenish/bluish colour in binoculars!

Besides being a great observing target, it sports an impressive tail:


www.astrostudio.at...

Has anyone else here spotted and/or photographed it? Post your observations here.

I only just discovered this thread. Great stuff, thank you very much indeed. Bookmarked!

So, who of you been observing the comet Q2 Lovejoy? It's very easily located in binoculars (looks like a fairly large and bright fuzzball of light, about as bright as the Andromeda galaxy), and even visible to the naked eye from dark sky location.

Here's an amazing photo of the comet whizzing by the famous winter constellations, taken from Mongolia by N. Ehnbat:


Full-sized image: files.abovetopsecret.com...
ISO504, f/2.8, 29mm (DX 19mm), 240 sec, Celestron AVX mount, D810, 24-70mm. (In simple words, it's a single 4-second exposure taken by a DSLR camera mounted on a tracking telescope mount!)

I'm now feeling brave enough to post one of my photos, although due to technical limitations it's nowhere as good as these. Still, it's my freaking photo of a real freaking comet!


Canon 600D with EF 50mm f1.8 prime lens, 1 sec exposure, ISO 3200.

Big kudos to the amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy who keeps discovering these beautiful comets from his rooftop observatory.

originally posted by: imod02
reply to post by alfa1

 

Dont confuse me, im a ATS member

Alot of other people are too. Now what are u sayin?

Some fantastic photos of the Q2 (Lovejoy) for recent nights:

Abhinav Singhai


Rolando Ligustri


I have observed this comet last night in my 10x42 binoculars - very easy to find even though I didn't know its precise location. Fairly big and bright fuzzy ball of light, definitely brighter than the Andromeda galazy. Experienced astronomers report it to be around 4.5 mag and visible to the naked eye.

The Q2 (Lovejoy) is smoking!

Image by Gerald Rhemann:
spaceweathergallery.com...



The comet had undergone an outburst of activity, and reportedly reached 4 magnitude. The sky in my location has been mostly cloudy or overcast, so I hadn't had the chance to observe the comet at its brightest. But I'm very happy to have seen it in thepreceding weeks, it was a real treat!

Spotted twice with my scope, last 2 weeks when passing Orion. Weather not great then either, also in Pa.

Christmas comet Catalina!

A bright(ish) comet is sailing through the morning skies, and it's truly gorgeous: C/2013 US10 (Catalina) has two tails, is almost bright enough to see naked eye, will get extremely close to Arcturus on New Year's morning, and has quite an interesting back story.

Picture by Rogelio Bernal Andreo:



Although it’s bright as comets go, for now you’ll probably need binoculars to observe it unless you have pretty dark skies.

a reply to: wildespace

Wish we'd get another Comet Hyakutake.....that was the most brilliant one I've ever seen with my naked eyes.