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<font size=3>From Hank Schuett<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 07:40:07
-0600<br>
To: Recipient list suppressed:;<br>
Subject: BRIGHTENING, GORGEOUS COMET<br><br>
</font><div align="center"><font size=5 color="#FF0000">It will soon be
seen in the Northern Hemisphere
</font><font size=3 color="#FF0000">(after 11 Jan near Orion's
Bow)</font><font size=5 color="#FF0000">......<br><br>
</font></div>
<font size=4 color="#FF0000"><b>BRIGHTENING, GORGEOUS COMET:
</b></font><font size=4>Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) continues to brighten,
and<b> it can now be seen with the naked eye even from light-polluted
urban areas</b>. Science journalist and longtime comet watcher Mariano
Ribas reports from the Planetario de Buenos Aires: "Last night, I
could see Comet Lovejoy with my unaided eyes in the sky of Buenos Aires.
Barely, and only using averted vision. But I saw it!"<br><br>
"Comparing the comet to nearby background stars, I estimate the
comet's visual magnitude to be about 4.2," he continues. "The
comet was very bright with my 10x50 binoculars. Also, I could see a hint
of its tail. The comet's atmosphere (or 'coma') looks clearly gray/green,
and it appears more condensed than one week ago."<br><br>
What is merely pleasing to the unaided eye transforms into something
gorgeous in the focus of a mid-sized telescope. Gerald Rhemann took this
picture using a remotely-controlled 12-inch 'scope in Farm Tivoli,
Namibia:<br><br>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=106289&PHPSESSID=j4cc5g14a04it79k3jmaofvt51">
<img src="http://spaceweather.com/images2015/06jan15/longtail_strip2.jpg" width=512 height=746 alt="[]">
</a>
<a href="http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=106289&PHPSESSID=j4cc5g14a04it79k3jmaofvt51">
</a><br><br>
</div>
The comet's blue tail is so long, only 1/3rd of it fits in the space
provided above.
<a href="http://spaceweathergallery.com/full_image.php?image_name=Gerald-Rhemann-2014q1-dec28_1420508439.jpg">
The whole thing</a> <b>stretches more than 7 million km from end to
end.<br><br>
</b>On Jan. 7th, Comet Lovejoy was at its closest to Earth: 0.47
astronomical units (70 million km) away. Although the comet will be
moving away from us for the rest of the month, it will continue to grow
in brightness because it is still moving closer to the sun.<br><br>
"Surely," says Ribas, <b>"the best is still to
come!"<br><br>
</b>This week, observers can
<a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/binocular-comet-lovejoy-heading-c2014-q2-lovejoy-1211142/">
find Comet Lovejoy</a> passing by the constellation Orion en route to
Taurus. For accurate pointing of telescopes,
<a href="http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/returnprepeph.cgi?d=c&o=CK14Q020">
an ephemeris</a> from the Minor Planet Center is
available.</font></blockquote></body>
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