Uhland
20th of March 2007 (Tue), 09:48
Full story and Photo:
http://spaceweather.com/
NEW COMET LOVEJOY: On March 15th, Terry Lovejoy of Thornlands, Australia, discovered a new comet (C/2007 E2) in the southern constellation Indus (http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/17mar07/phot-03d-03-fullres.jpg). Remarkably, to make the find he used not a telescope but just an off-the-shelf digital camera--a Canon 350D (http://www.spaceweather.com/xtra/results_canon.php?searchTerm=Canon+350D+digital+ca mera). At Lovejoy's request, John Drummund (john_drummond@xtra.co.nz) of Gisborne, New Zealand, confirmed the comet with this photo taken through a 0.41-m reflector:
The new comet is green and shines like a 9th magnitude star, too dim for the unaided eye but an easy target for large backyard telescopes in the southern hemisphere: ephemeris (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2007E2_1.html).
After five days of tracking, Comet Lovejoy's trajectory is known. The orbit (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?sstr=2007+E2) is cockeyed, almost perpendicular to the rest of the solar system. At the moment the comet is swooping up from below, moving from southern to northern skies. At closest approach to Earth (0.44 AU) in late April, Comet Lovejoy is expected to brighten to 7th magnitude, still not a naked-eye comet but easy to see through small telescopes.
8)
Ahh, if only I could edit the title. Hahah!
http://spaceweather.com/
NEW COMET LOVEJOY: On March 15th, Terry Lovejoy of Thornlands, Australia, discovered a new comet (C/2007 E2) in the southern constellation Indus (http://spaceweather.com/swpod2007/17mar07/phot-03d-03-fullres.jpg). Remarkably, to make the find he used not a telescope but just an off-the-shelf digital camera--a Canon 350D (http://www.spaceweather.com/xtra/results_canon.php?searchTerm=Canon+350D+digital+ca mera). At Lovejoy's request, John Drummund (john_drummond@xtra.co.nz) of Gisborne, New Zealand, confirmed the comet with this photo taken through a 0.41-m reflector:
The new comet is green and shines like a 9th magnitude star, too dim for the unaided eye but an easy target for large backyard telescopes in the southern hemisphere: ephemeris (http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2007E2_1.html).
After five days of tracking, Comet Lovejoy's trajectory is known. The orbit (http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?sstr=2007+E2) is cockeyed, almost perpendicular to the rest of the solar system. At the moment the comet is swooping up from below, moving from southern to northern skies. At closest approach to Earth (0.44 AU) in late April, Comet Lovejoy is expected to brighten to 7th magnitude, still not a naked-eye comet but easy to see through small telescopes.
8)
Ahh, if only I could edit the title. Hahah!