A newfound comet is dazzling observers across the world this New Year as it brightens the sky. Officially designated C/2014 Q2, the "Comet Lovejoy" is named after its discoverer Terry Lovejoy of Queensland, Australia.
The comet will make its closest approach to Earth of about 43.6 million miles or 70.2 million kilometers on Wednesday, Jan. 7. Comet Lovejoy should be easily visible with binoculars or a telescope this week, as it passes to the left side of the constellation Eridanus in the southwestern sky.
Astronomers believe that the comet's gorgeous green glow is likely due to the presence of cyanogen and diatomic carbon, which glow green when illuminated by sunlight. By contrast, the comet's ion tail (gas tail) - the narrow, often detail-filled part of the tail that points directly away from the Sun - is tinted blue. The ion tail's color comes from fluorescing carbon monoxide ions, illuminated by the sun.
Terry Lovejoy, a prolific comet discoverer with many objects in the sky named for him, first spotted the new comet in August of 2014. Since then, it has gradually brightened, transforming into a truly dazzling spectacle for amateur astronomers. Comet Lovejoy will reach is peak brightness this week and it may even be visible to the naked eye for observers in extremely dark skies, far away from city lights.
This marks the fifth comet discovery for the Australian amateur astronomer who first located it at 15th magnitude in Puppis last August. Since that time it hasn't moved very much in the sky, but has continued to grow brighter by the day. "I saw it easily using a pair of 6x35 binoculars" astronomer David Seargent says it was a good 8 arc minutes wide, with a strong central condensation and no visible tail.
The comet began as a faint glow about 4,000 times dimmer than the faintest star visible by the naked eye. Yet, the comet has continued getting brighter at a rapid pace, and has reached a magnitude of +5.3 on the brightness scale used by astronomers. Under this scale, smaller numbers represent brighter objects. The dimmest objects seen by the human eye are around a magnitude of 6.5.
As the Comet Lovejoy moves away from the sun and Earth, it should fade rapidly. This will be your one chance to catch a glimpse of this comet as well as it is not scheduled to return or our solar neighborhood until around the year 10,000.
