BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Look up! Comet Lovejoy is visible with binoculars

Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is now visible in northern hemisphere skies. This Comet Lovejoy is not to be confused with any of the four previous discoveries made by Australian comet hunter Terry Lovejoy. He discovered this one last August, but it moved northward and brightened in December.

Apparently, in dark sky sites, the comet has been just visible to the unaided eye. It's currently somewhat washed out by the full Moon, but in a few days the effect of the Moon will be lessening. The other night I had a clear sky and could see where the comet probably was, but the Moon was bright and I didn't know where the binoculars were. A friend found it easily with binoculars, reported it as a "fuzzy blob".

Here is Sky & Telescope's finder chart for January. Most people can find Orion in the sky, so there's a good chance of locating the comet.

Two friends have seen the comet. I have the binoculars. I have a window the faces the part of the sky where the comet is. Alas, when I went to look, half of the sky was cloudy and as I looked, even Jupiter disappeared as more clouds came to cover anything that was still visible. Sigh.

I hope the rest of you have better luck.

I have not been blessed with clear night skies when needed ... as ever. How are you doing? Because people are seeing Comet Lovejoy. A telescope is good, but binoculars will do it for you, and if you don't mind that it's small and fuzzy, the comet is an object you can see with your unaided eye.

Here are two of the photos that people around the world have taken. A good one from John Chumack, an experienced astrophotographer. Wow! Another superb photo from British astrophotographer Damien Peach.

This is a magnificent picture of Comet Lovejoy. Certainly you wouldn't see it like this through your binoculars, or indeed any ordinary telescope. It just happened to wander into the field of view of the Dark Energy Camera which is aimed way out into the cosmos. At 570 megapixels, DECam is the world's most powerful digital camera. The picture is a composite made from 62 images captured by the camera. And yes, the comet really is that color.