Comet 2014 Q2 1/13/2015

  Comet Lovejoy 2014 Q2 made for a nice target on a 5 degree evening on Tuesday.  

  In the photo the tail is faintly visible to the left of the head of the comet.

Comet 2014 Q2 1/12/2015

In August 2014,Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy, discovered his fifth comet.  Initially it was expected to reach only magnitude 7 (2.5x dimmer than the naked eye can detect), but it has peaked at magnitude 4 and can be detected with the naked eye from a dark site. The exponential nature of the astronomical brightness scale, means that a 3 magnitude increase is 2.5 x 2.5 x 2.5 = 15 times brighter. Photos reveal the blue-green color of the comet.

Green blob left of the tree

  This photo shows  two galaxies the Andromeda Galaxy on the right at a distance of 2 million lightyears and the Triangulum Galaxy faintly visible on the left.