Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on 18 February 2015
         
     

 

    
      Size: 2000 px    
 
© Velimir Popov & Emil Ivanov 2014
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) was discovered on 17 August 2014 by Terry Lovejoy using a 0.2-meter (8 in) Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope. It is is a long-period comet.By December 2014 the comet had brightened to roughly magnitude 7.4 making it a small telescope and binoculars target. By mid-December the comet was visible to the naked eye for experienced observers with dark skies. This two panel mosaic shows the comet on February 18th 2015 at 19:40 UT, when the comet was near Messier 76 (Little Dumbbell). Hovering the mouse will show the names of some objects. The fast movement of the structures in the comets's tail can be seen on the small animation below:
 

Image details:

Annotation
Center of field RA 01:47:25 (h:m:s)
Center of field DE 50:54:59 (deg:m:s)
Size 2.2 x 1.7 (deg)
Pixel scale: 3.96 (arcsec/pixel)
Orientation: Up is 17.7 degrees E of N
Charts and image details obtained from Astrometry.net
Optic(s): ASA 12" Astrograph @ f/3.6 (Newton)
Mount: ASA DDM85 Standard
Camera: SBIG STL 11000 M
Filters: Luminance, Red, Green, Blue, Astronomik filters
Dates/Times: 18. 02. 2015
Location: IRIDA Observatory, BG, longitude: E 24 44' 18", latitude: N 41 41' 42"
Exp. Details: L:2x3 min; R:2x3 min, G:2x3 min, B:2x3 min Bin 2, Total Exposure Time - 24 min
More details: Dark and flat frames reduction, 2 panel mosaic
Processing: PixInsight / PS
 
Copyright: Velimir Popov and Emil Ivanov 2013. All Rights Reserved
 
e-mail: info@irida-observatory.org
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