Comet Lovejoy: We saw it!

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Yesterday was a cold but clear day. So before going to bed, we tried to spot comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2). The sky conditions were not good at all: the moon was full and we had to stand on the street to see Lovejoy. This means that a lot of straylight made seeing the comet even more difficult. At a magnitude of 4 to 5, the comet should be easy to find using small binoculars at the moment.

First, I tried to find the comet with 10x50 binoculars. Without a real star chart, I could already spot Lovejoy very soon. I was amazed by the brightness of the comet. Lovejoy looked like a bright deep-sky object, even under these terrible sky conditions.

I went back inside to get my 20x80 binoculars and mount. It was a bit more difficult to find the comet because of the smaller field of view. The comet was quite large and brighter than expected. Lovejoy appeared round, with a brighter center, a bit like a bright unresolved globular cluster. A tail could not be seen.

More news on the comet and some finder charts can be found on the website of Sky & Telescope.

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