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Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2)

Comet Lovejoy

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Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2)

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is a new discovery - August 18, 2014 by Terry Lovejoy (Brisbane), his 5th. At the time in Puppis was shining at 15th magnitude.As of January 2nd it was being reported at about magnitude 4.7 to 5.2, but the light of the waxing gibbous Moon filling the sky has made it a lot harder to see.

Comet Lovejoy features.This is a very LONG-PERIOD** comet (orbital period of +/- 11 500 years). Due to perturbations by the planets shortened to about 8000 yrs.** Orbital periods depend on origin of the comet: Long period comets (> 200 yrs) originate from the Oordt Cloud (can be thousands to millions of years),Short period comets ( < 200 yrs) are from the Kuiper Belt (Two families: Jupiter family < 20 yrs, Halley family: 20 200 yrs).

The green colour : Usual for comets heads Molecules of diatomic carbon (C2) fluorescing in the Suns UV light,Also some violet (to which our eyes are insensitive) from cyanogen (CN),The gas tail (ion tail): Points away from the sun,Tinted blue: Carbon Monoxide ions fluorescing,NOT visible in these images - taken from a LIGHT POLLUTED site.Dust: appears Sun-coloured: reflected sunlight,(Lovejoy had LITTLE dust),Great comets usually thus very dusty/ visible, like Lovejoy of 2011; Hale-Bopp of 1997 etc.

Comet Lovejoy features.

Angular Displacement/ Distance travelled in +/- 50 minutes.The next slides demonstrate the movement of the comet against background stars over a period of 50 minutes.Jan 2nd, 2015: Two images taken at 21h10 and 21h59: Comet Lovejoy was travelling at +/- 36 km/ sec** relative to the Sun,**On Jan 6th : 36.38 km/s (speeding up); +/- 200 mill. km from the Sun, +/- 70 mill. km from Earth.The field of view** is +/-0.66 deg. (Horizontal) see next slide.

Angular Displacement/Distance travelled in +/- 50 minutes**.

21h1021h59****

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Angular Distance/ Displacement in +/- 50 minutes**.) - Relative to the Great Orion Nebula (M42)

(Similar set-up/ ** FOV as comet images)

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Angular Distance/ Displacement in +/- 50 minutes**.(Similar set-up/ **FOV as comet images)Reality speed check: +/- 36km/s = 360km/ 10 s = 3600km/ 100 sThus: covers the Moons diameter (3476km) in < 100 sThe Moon is +/- 0.50 across, the ** FOV thus +/- 0.660 across****

Jan 2nd 2015: 21h10 21h59Meade LX 850 14 telescope,Auto-guided with Starlock system,Moon waxing gibbous, with **thin, variable cloud cover/ light pollution (BUT FAIR/GOOD SEEING) **Clouds moving across apparent in time-laps movieDSLR: Canon EOS 5D384 exposures:Prime focus,10 sec, ISO 3200,Individual exposures: Contrast + saturation adjustments and noise reduction in Paint.Net.Time-laps movie in Picasa:6 frames/sec = duration of +/- 14 sec.2nd clip: shorter - better sky conditions.

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Click through to the next slide to view the video footage

Click through to the next slide to view the video footage

Goodbyeuntil 10 014For more comet info:http://cometchasing.skyhound.com/