Astroblog: Congratulations Terry Lovejoy on Comet C/2013 R1

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Congratulations Terry Lovejoy on Comet C/2013 R1


Location of comet C/2013 R1 now. This Stellarium simulation is for 5:00 am as seen from Adelaide, but most of Australia will have similar views at the equivalent local time. At magnitude 14 you will need a decent telescope to see it. Click to embiggen.	Location of comet C/2013 R1 on the 9th of November. This Stellarium simulation is for 5:00 am as seen from Adelaide, but most of Australia will have similar views at the equivalent local time. At magnitude 9 you can see it with strong binoculars under dark skies or with a small telescope.

Terry Lovejoy has found his fourth comet. While not as amazing as C/2011 W3 Lovejoy, this is still a nice comet, predicted to get as bright as magnitude 8, or maybe a tad brighter.

Terry's new comet will make for interesting November skies with both comet C/2012 S1 ISON and C/2013 R1. Unfortunately, from the Southern hemisphere both ISON and Lovejoy are not visible at their brightest, but with good binoculars or a small telescope the addition of Lovejoy to the morning ISON sky will be great.

Comet convoy as seen from Roswell, New Mexico on the 11th of November.

From the northern hemisphere the view will be even more interesting, with comets ISON, Lovejoy and 2P/Enke visible in what Stuart Atkinson calls the "comet convoy". We won't see 2P/Enke from Australia at the hight of the line-up, it will be belwo our horizon.

For printable black and white spotters maps suitable for telescope use (and links to the Minor Planet Ephemeris) see this post.

Labels: comet, comets