27 | December | 2014 | WATCH THIS SPACE(MAN)

C/2014 Q2 Comet Lovejoy is a long-period comet, only recently discovered by Terry Lovejoy in August; it is the fifth comet discovered by Terry. By December 2014 the comet had brightened to a magnitude of +7.4 and by mid-December had become visible to the naked eye with dark skies. This weekend on 28th and 29th December, the comet will pass 1/3° from the globular cluster M79, subsequently brightening in January to a magnitude of +4.0 to +5.0, as it moves west of Orion and onwards towards Aries and Triangulum, thereby becoming one of the brightest comets for years. On 7th January 2015 the comet will be at its closest to Earth at a distance of 43,600,000 miles.

C/2014 Q2 Comet Lovejoy Projected Track

Before entering the planetary region in the 1950s epoch, C/2014 Q2 had an orbital period of 11,500 years, after leaving the planetary region in the 2050 epoch it will have an orbital period of about 8,000 years. Thus, unbeknownst to me, it has been with me since I was born and will remain with me for the rest of my life!

I have not seen the comet yet but have just been sent an excellent picture just taken from Joan’s Tacande Observatory in La Palma , which I visited earlier this year. Of course, I’ll be looking out for C/2014 Q2 at the weekend and hope to follow its journey during the next few weeks and beyond. Well done Terry and thanks again Joan.