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Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) Lights January Skies, Won’t Return for 8,000 Years
Indian Country Today Media Network ^ | 6JAN2015 | ICTMN Staff Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/01/06/comet-lovejoy-lights-j

Posted on 01/06/2015 4:10:54 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine

It’s being called the New Year’s Comet, a fuzzy green ball named Comet Lovejoy that is cruising past Mother Earth as we speak and is scheduled to become visible to the naked eye starting midweek.

The name Comet Lovejoy may ring a bell; one of its namesakes was last in Earth’s vicinity three years ago, when it survived a death plunge into the sun in 2011, then emerged to grow a new tail.

That was C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy). The latest entry into our field of vision is the fifth comet discovery for amateur astronomy Terry Lovejoy of Australia, according to Sky and Telescope, and its name is C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy).

This one will not graze the sun, but Lovejoy Q2 is glowing green throughout January and could be visible to the naked eye starting Wednesday.

“It has been brightening and can now be seen from latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, as it moves toward its closest approach to Earth on January 7, 2015,” says Earthsky.org. “Then it’ll be 43.6 million miles away (70.2 million km). Soon, the comet will be high in Northern Hemisphere skies!”

Just before Christmas this Lovejoy comet lost its tail as its 2011 predecessor did, growing another one that was also whipped away by a solar wind, according to Universe Today.

The best viewing begins just south of the constellation Orion, and unlike with the recent Quadrantid meteor shower, the moon is not interfering with this sight.

The comet enters its brightest two weeks on Wednesday, “crossing Taurus and Aries higher and higher in early evening. It passes 8 degrees west-southwest of the Pleiades on the evening of January 17,” Sky and Telescope reports. “Although the comet begins to recede into the distance after the 7th, its intrinsic brightness should still be increasing a bit; it doesn't reach perihelion [closest approach to the sun] until January 30th.”

It will not get terribly close to the sun, since it will be about 120 million miles from it (Earth is 93 million miles away), Sky and Telescope notes.

“By that date the comet should finally be starting to fade slightly from Earth's point of view, and in late January the Moon returns; it's first-quarter on the 26th,” Sky and Telescope says.

That said, a glimpse may require binoculars or a telescope, especially for those in well-lit areas, and all accounts say it is well worth the trouble. It boasts “long majestic dust and ion tails, as well as the greenish hue characteristic of bright comets,” according to a description by Universe Today, which along with Sky and Telescope gives detailed descriptions on how and where to see this stunner.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime—make that a once-in-several-millennia—opportunity to see this fellow traveler of the solar system, since Lovejoy will not return for 8,000 years.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asteroid; asteroids; astronomy; c2014q2; comet; cometlovejoy; comets; greencomet; lovejoy; science
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1 posted on 01/06/2015 4:10:54 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine
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To: Jack Hydrazine

2 posted on 01/06/2015 4:16:12 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Related threads:

Bright Comet Lovejoy Rings in the New Year! (Closest approach 7JAN2015)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3242790/posts

Astronomy Picture of the Day — Comet Lovejoy before a Globular Star Cluster
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3242428/posts

Astronomy Picture of the Day — This Comet Lovejoy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3240931/posts


3 posted on 01/06/2015 4:19:36 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Cool! Thanks!


4 posted on 01/06/2015 4:20:21 PM PST by P.O.E. (Pray for America)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Thanks for sharing.


5 posted on 01/06/2015 4:24:02 PM PST by jonatron
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Thanks for the heads up! Haven't seen Lovejoy in decades...


6 posted on 01/06/2015 4:37:56 PM PST by mylife
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To: Jack Hydrazine

bump for later after the clouds clear


7 posted on 01/06/2015 4:44:37 PM PST by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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To: Jack Hydrazine

So tomorrow night... Look to the right of the Orion Nebula...

Too bad it we’ll be having “Hoth” like temperatures with 40mph winds... (never fails)

Whenever there’s something I want to look at in the night skies, it seems to always be 4:30AM, cloudy, 100 below zero with tropical storm force winds, or sometimes all of the above.....


8 posted on 01/06/2015 5:04:58 PM PST by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Saw it last week in almost full moonlight using 10x50 binoculars and a 4” refractor. Just a fuzzy blob. Hope we’ll be able to see the tail once the moon leaves the scene.


9 posted on 01/06/2015 5:05:39 PM PST by barefoot_hiker
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To: barefoot_hiker

New Moon is 20JAN2015.


10 posted on 01/06/2015 5:19:43 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

COMET LOVEJOY/NOW AT CLOSE APPROACH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwGmS4f8rv0


11 posted on 01/06/2015 5:20:55 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Closest approach to the Sun is 29JAN2015.


12 posted on 01/06/2015 5:23:34 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

If you need help finding the stars and constellations you can download Stellarium for free.

http://www.stellarium.org/


13 posted on 01/06/2015 5:24:28 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I have my Stellarium running right now, I’ve found Orion but I’m not seeing anything representing Lovejoy.


14 posted on 01/06/2015 6:19:59 PM PST by rdl6989
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To: rdl6989

You have to add it and here are the instructions on how to do that.

https://answers.launchpad.net/stellarium/+faq/1746


15 posted on 01/06/2015 6:32:40 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: mylife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btBxn0v2b2M


16 posted on 01/06/2015 6:39:15 PM PST by oblomov
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To: Jack Hydrazine

I tried it and it does work. I now have Lovejoy on my Stellarium!


17 posted on 01/06/2015 6:39:24 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) Lights January Skies, Won’t Return for 8,000 Years

You do realize I will need laser surgery to able to see it then.

18 posted on 01/06/2015 6:42:45 PM PST by Starstruck (If my reply offends, you probably don't understand sarcasm or criticism...or do.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Thanks.


19 posted on 01/06/2015 6:43:37 PM PST by rdl6989
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To: Starstruck

How many reincarnations over 8,000 years? LOL!


20 posted on 01/06/2015 6:45:11 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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