Friday, January 09, 2015

Comet Lovejoy

It took three tries tonight but I think I saw Comet Lovejoy. I needed binoculars (10x50) and it was dim (not visible with the naked eye). Here's how to find it.

NewImage

It's basically to right of Orion. Over the rest of January it will move along the yellow line in this chart. It's easy to spot Aldebaran with the naked eye, that's the bright star to the right of Orion's shoulders. To confirm, move further right about the same distance and you'll see the Pleiades (aka the Seven Sisters). Tonight I could just make them out with the naked eye and could easily confirm it was them with binoculars. Then I scanned beneath Aldebaran to a bit below Orion's belt and saw the comet. It looked a little dimmer than this image (which I found online).

LovejoyBinSim1

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