[BAA-ebulletin 00829] A Christmas Comet

[Rick]

[BAA-ebulletin 00829] A Christmas Comet
(c) 2014 British Astronomical Association    http://www.britastro.org/

A comet discovered from Australia by Terry Lovejoy on August 16 has brightened quite rapidly.  2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)  is currently too far south to be seen from the UK, although it is being imaged with remote telescopes. See for example the image by Damian Peach at http://www.damianpeach.com/deepsky/c2014_q2_2014_12_14dp.jpg with other images in the Section archive at http://www.britastro.org/cometobs/2014q2/index.html The comet is heading northwards and might be seen from the UK in about a week's time, but it will be very low down in the south so you will need an unobstructed horizon.  By Christmas it will be easier to see, but still low down and highest around midnight.  The comet should be at its brightest at around 4th to 5th magnitude in the first half of January when it will be conveniently visible in the evening sky.  There are finder charts on the Computing Section web page at http://britastro.org/computing/charts_comet.html

The comet is unlikely to show much of a tail, but one of a degree or so in length might be seen with binoculars.  It will probably show quite a large diffuse coma, with a stronger central condensation.  You will need dark skies to see it to best effect, but it will be sufficiently bright that even city dwellers should be able to find it in binoculars when it is higher in the sky in January.  Interesting imaging opportunities include the early hours of December 29 when the comet is very close to M79, mid January when it is relatively close to the Pleiades and February 2 when it transects the line between M34 and NGC752.  Please send any images to Denis Buczynski at cometobs at britastro.org

Simple instructions on comet observation are in the BAA Observing Guide - see http://britastro.org/product/1198  Please send visual observations to me, if possible in standard ICQ format.  The more comprehensive Section Observing Guide to Comets is currently out of print, however a pdf version of the draft new edition will be available in the Members area of the BAA web site in the near future.  The Section web page at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/ is regularly updated and will have all the latest information on the comet.

Clear skies and a happy Christmas observing the comet!

Jonathan Shanklin
Director

[MarkS]

Easily visible in binoculars tonight (Sunday 22:00), despite the moon.  Might have a go at getting an image ...

[Edit:  Actually it was M79 - they're fairly close in the sky tonight]

[Later edit:  I was right the first time.  Comet is much brighter than M79 and its tail easily visible in a 60sec exposure swinging past M79]

Mark