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Bright Comet Lovejoy Rings in the New Year! (Closest approach 7JAN2015)
Slate.com ^ | 30DEC2014 | Phil Plait

Posted on 01/01/2015 7:01:59 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine

2014 hasn’t even ended yet and we already have one of the best comets of 2015 showing off in our skies: C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy), already visible to the naked eye and predicted to get brighter over the next couple of weeks!

This is the fifth comet discovered by Australian "amateur" astronomer Terry Lovejoy. In 2011, one of “his” comets made a spectacular pass through the sky. This one may not be quite so ostentatious, but its location and brightness make it a winner. On Jan. 7 it will pass about 70 million kilometers (44 million miles) from Earth, and it’s predicted to peak around 4th magnitude; easily visible from dark skies without optical aid.

As a bonus, it’s passing near the constellation of Orion, making it easier to find, and it’ll also glide past Taurus and the Pleiades, providing for what should be some pretty photogenic scenes. It’s moving roughly north, so it gets higher all the time for Northern Hemisphere observers.

(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: australia; c2014q2; comet; comet2014q2; cometlovejoy; greencomet; lovejoy; nakedeye; orion; visible
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1 posted on 01/01/2015 7:01:59 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Tried to find it on a rare cloudless night, but the moon was too bright.

And, I am hopeless with constellation spotting. I check on a sky chart, go out and cannot find a damn thing that looks like the chart.

2 posted on 01/01/2015 7:04:43 PM PST by doorgunner69
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Previous threads posted on FR about this comet:

Watch the New Year’s Skies for a Green Comet
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3242147/posts

New Comet Discovered: Lovejoy Will Add to “Comet Lineup” in Winter Skies
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3065213/posts

NASA Photo of the Day: Comet Lovejoy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2825401/posts

Comet Lovejoy Survives Fiery Plunge Through Sun, NASA Says
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2821220/posts

Astronomy Picture of the Day — Comet Lovejoy: Sungrazing Survivor
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2821554/posts


3 posted on 01/01/2015 7:09:17 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: doorgunner69

You can’t miss Orion. Three bright stars in a straight line are at the center of the constellation (the belt). The eye is drawn to it. With a pair of binoculars you can make out the Orion nebula just below the belt.


4 posted on 01/01/2015 7:10:13 PM PST by Straight Vermonter (Postin)
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To: doorgunner69
Go out after nine or ten p.m. and use this sky chart. If you can find Orion as it rises in the east you are quite close! Right now the comet is in the constellation of Lepus the rabbit which sits just a little bit below Orion (to the right and a little bit closer to the horizon).


5 posted on 01/01/2015 7:14:15 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Straight Vermonter

It’s also best to stay out in the dark for 30 minutes so your eyes can adjust appropriately.


6 posted on 01/01/2015 7:15:35 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Thanks, I was just googling to find a track!


7 posted on 01/01/2015 7:15:55 PM PST by Straight Vermonter (Postin)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

This app will help you find the constellations a little easier. (It’s free.)

Stellarium
http://www.stellarium.org/


8 posted on 01/01/2015 7:17:24 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

9 posted on 01/01/2015 7:25:23 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

10 posted on 01/01/2015 7:26:09 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

11 posted on 01/01/2015 7:27:39 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Straight Vermonter; doorgunner69; Jack Hydrazine

Question is

Is Orion visible in Hawaii this time of year?

doorgunner99 lives in Hawaii.


12 posted on 01/01/2015 7:31:08 PM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

Thanks for the heads up.


13 posted on 01/01/2015 7:31:50 PM PST by mylife
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To: Jack Hydrazine
That's the thing, the sky does not have all those convenient lines drawn in for idiots like me to identify constellations!

Those Greeks had some wild imaginations to see all those characters in a bunch of stars. All I see are random stars.

14 posted on 01/01/2015 7:33:23 PM PST by doorgunner69
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To: mylife

COMET LOVEJOY BRIGHTENING RAPIDLY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6Yht9nlFYw


15 posted on 01/01/2015 7:34:54 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Pontiac

“Is Orion visible in Hawaii this time of year?”

Just look due east at this time of the evening.


16 posted on 01/01/2015 7:36:07 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: doorgunner69

That’s what Stellarium helps you with.


17 posted on 01/01/2015 7:36:26 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine

If January is like December, we aren’t going to have much chance to see the comet here. I’ve never seen such dismal weather that I can remember. Cloudy, cloudy, cloudy. It was clear in part of the sky last night but in Orion’s vicinity, it was cloudy. Now we have three days of rain to look forward to. *sigh*

Maybe we’ll get lucky next week and have a shot at it. I hope so. My telescope and I are champin’ at the bit.


18 posted on 01/01/2015 7:43:26 PM PST by radu (May God watch over our troops and keep them safe)
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To: radu

You have most of the month to get a view of it.


19 posted on 01/01/2015 7:50:07 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (Pubbies = national collectivists; Dems = international collectivists; We need a second party!)
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To: Jack Hydrazine
Downloading it now, I need all the help I can get. Always been clueless with the night sky

I have been known to spot the moon on occasion if it is clear! Funny, but it is often very visible here in Hawaii in broad daylight, something I do not remember on the mainland.

20 posted on 01/01/2015 7:51:22 PM PST by doorgunner69
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