Lovejoy Passing by Earth
by User 1
(uploaded January 20, 2015)
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy), the brightest comet to be visible in dark skies in the Northern Hemisphere in 8 years (since the outburst of 17P/Holmes in 2007/2008), shines at magnitude +4.0 as it passes by the Earth. The 2 degrees of tail visible in this image comprise just 1/10 of what's visible in a wide field image of the comet. This full 20 degree tail translates to a true distance of over 0.2 au, or 30 million km. By comparison, the nucleus of the comet (not visible in the image) producing this tail is estimated to be around 5 km in diameter, a factor of nearly 107 smaller.
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| Time Taken: | January 17, 2015, 06:00 am (UTC) |
| Location: | Santa Barbara, CA |
| Telescope: | ES ED80-CF |
| Camera: | Canon EOS Rebel T4i |
| Mount: | iOptron ZEQ25GT |
| Filters: | Astro Tech 2" Field Flattener |
| Field Center: | 3h21m40.84s, 19°8'52.66" |
| Field Size: | 2.31784° × 1.53245° |
| Field Rotation: | up is 1.101° E of N |
| Total Integration: | 1980 seconds |
| # of Frames: | 66 subs |
| ISO Speed: | 1600 |
| Aperture: | 0.08 meters |
| Focal Ratio: | 6 |
| Is Cropped: | Yes |