Friday, 2 January 2015

Telescope up! #CometLovejoy is rising.

Comet Lovejoy is coming to within  appx 44 MILLION miles of earth and you can see it in clear, dark skies of the Northern Hemisphere with binoculars or a good sized telescope during the early part of January 2015. It will be closest to the earth on the 7th of January and you should be able to identify it with the naked eye. If you scan the skies below and right of ORION, you should be able to locate it. With an orbital path of ~8000years, it could be a while until you next get the chance. Lovejoy will pass to within 120MILLION miles of the SUN by the end of January, continuing its journey for many thousands of years.

Comet Lovejoy is named after an Australian amateur astronomer - Terry Lovejoy, who discovered it in 2014 using a standard 8inch telescope.

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