Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on 21 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 image shows the comet on February 21th 2015 at 19:30 UT, when the comet was near Messier 76 (Little Dumbbell). 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 01:42:00 (h:m:s)
Center of field DE 52:15:48 (deg:m:s)
Size 1.25 x 1.67 (deg)
Pixel scale: 3.01 (arcsec/pixel)
Orientation: Up is -161 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: 21. 02. 2015 19:30 UT
Location: IRIDA Observatory, BG, longitude: E 24 44' 18", latitude: N 41 41' 42"
Exp. Details: L:3x3 min; R:3x3 min, G:3x3 min, B:3x3 min Bin 2, Total Exposure Time - 36 min
More details: Dark and flat frames reduction,
Processing: PixInsight / PS
 
Copyright: Velimir Popov and Emil Ivanov 2014. All Rights Reserved
 
e-mail: info@irida-observatory.org
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