Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Comet Lovejoy's Tail

NASA ^ | January 17, 2015 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Sweeping north in planet Earth's sky, Comet Lovejoy's greenish coma and blue tinted ion tail stretched across this field of stars in the constellation Taurus on January 13. The inset at the upper left shows the 1/2 degree angular size of the full moon for scale. So Lovejoy's coma appears only a little smaller (but much fainter) than a full moon on the sky, and its tail is visible for over 4 degrees across the frame. That corresponds to over 5 million kilometers at the comet's estimated distance of 75 million kilometers from Earth. Blown by the solar wind, the comet's tenuous, structured ion tail streams away from the Sun, growing as this Comet Lovejoy heads toward perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, on January 30. While diatomic carbon (C2) gas fluorescing in sunlight produces the coma's green color, the fainter bluish tail is tinted by emission from ionized carbon monoxide (CO+).

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit and Copyright: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)]

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[TheOldLady]

That’s right purdy!

[Rio]

We saw the comet on Tuesday night. Nice fuzzy green blob. No tail visible, though. This with binoculars. Been cloudy since then or I’d try again.

[Conan the Librarian]

I looked at Lovejoy last night from our “Dark Sky” site.

It looked like a basketball in my 32mm Plossl.

Could faintly see some of the tail close in, but, it faded quickly.

[COBOL2Java]

"Stop showin' those images, boy! It's embarrasin'! Sure, my potency ain't what it...what? A comet? Oh...heh heh! Nevermind!"

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

I managed to locate it using binoculars on a tripod placed on the hood of my daughter’s car. It was an indistinct green smudge. I did not see a tail. It would brighten and fade, and brighten again.

I thought this was pretty good, considering I was in a suburb near a major city and had light from 3 street lights.

If anyone is looking, follow Orion’s belt, and under the Pleiades to a group of 3 stars, down and a bit and to the right, and its under a solitary star. (Kappa Cetus?)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks PfSM!