Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)

Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is bright (around 5mag) enough to be easily seen with binoculars or small telescopes in constellation Eridanus. On really good sites one should be able to spot it even with naked eye. However, currently the observing conditions are hard, because of today’s full moon. Additionally in the northern hemisphere the comet’s elevation is very low. I have spotted it two days ago from Vallentuna (near Stockholm, Sweden) when it was only 18 degrees above the horizon at maximum. I have taken some pictures with my CCD camera and was really impressed how fast the comet moves on the sky (see video).

The really good news is that the observing conditions are going to be better during the next days and weeks. C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) will climb further up, reaching constellation Taurus around 9th of January, just two days after it reaches the closest position to Earth at a distance of around 70 million kilometers.