New Southern Comet

[gbeal]

Not sure if this has been reported here or not, apologies if it has.
I have just seen that Terry Lovejoy found a new comet, well done.

[h0ughy]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :D :) :bowdown: :prey2: :party2: :party2: :party2: :stargaze: :clap: :clap: :camera: well done Terry

[avandonk]

Thats good news. Any further info?

Bert

[beren]

:thumbsup: fantastic , congrats Terry L

[gbeal]

This is what alerted me Bert, http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/nzastronomers/message/10671

[DobDobDob]

That links leads to this......

Group Not Found

There is no group called n.... Please make sure you typed the web address correctly. If you have done so, the group may no longer exist.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Terry that's fantastic stuff, well done mate!

I'm waiting for my membership to the yahoo group to be approved so I can read that posting and get some more info. Great to think that amateur guys are still making a difference in this field.

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Ron I've just clicked on it, it did work ok for me apparently around the same time as you tried.

You have to have a yahoo ID first, log into groups, then click the link again and it will get you to main page of that group. You do then have to join that individual group, but it does all appear to be working ok so far.

[DobDobDob]

Thanks Steve :D

UPDATE: I'm fully in now, reading this amazing story.

[CometGuy]

Thanks guys I found the new comet (C/2007E2) on Thursday morning on images made the same morning. There isn't an orbit yet and so 1) the comet remains unnamed 2) I don't know where and how bright it will get. Fingers crossed it brightens :)

Here is my post giving some more details of the discovery here:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/message/11941

Terry

[iceman]

Well done Terry! Congrats! Let's hope it outshines McNaught ;)

[netwolf]

Wow, how inspiring, well done Terry. Congrats, I hope its is as bright and if not brighter than McNaught.

[[1ponders]]

Congratulation Terry, that is fantastic. :clap::clap::clap:

2007: The year of the comets :party:

[acropolite]

:thumbsup: Congratulations Terry, 2007 certainly is the year of the comet.

[DobDobDob]

What do you say to someone who is about to become immortal, sensational Terry :thumbsup:

[Phil]

congratulations Terry hope you find more in the future.
Phil

[avandonk]

Congratulations Terry. A very worthwhile result for intelligent long perseverance and effort. Negative results are important but getting a live one is great.

Bert

[h0ughy]

spaceweather...................

[Rodstar]

Congratulations Terry. Great news! It must give you great encouragement in what must often be a very frustating and exhausting search!

[avandonk]

hOughy that scroll bar still does not work!

Bert

[CometGuy]

Houghy,

Thanks for posting Spaceweather link, problem is its not Comet Lovejoy...yet! The orbit will have to be calculated to make sure its not an already named comet (it has happened in the past).

Terry

[h0ughy]

no worries Terry and adulation is warranted:D ;)

[wavelandscott]

Congrats! :thumbsup:

[duncan]

TOP S---T {CRAP} Well done seriously. What a ripper. Hope it's not one already named. Persistance = persaverance = persistance = PAYDAY!!!

Well done and hope you get many more,

Cheers,
Duncan:2thumbs: :cool: :cool: :party: :drink: :party2: :rockband: :bowdown: :cool: :cool:

[gaa_ian]

Well done Terry a great discovery, as they say persistence pays off !

[netwolf]

Terry, it matters little if its already known or not. I would imagine the fun is in the hunting, finding and observing. And more importantly it gives hope and inspiration to others to look. I do hope that its a new one.

Regards

[dwyman]

Congrats, Terry. By the way, if it gets real bright how about sending it up north for a look see. Seems like all the good comets head south.

Regards from the frozen north of Wisconsin, USA.

[Fomalhaut]

Congratulations !!!
Hopefully it will go up into the northern hemisphere and brightens like McNaught so i can see it too :) . Or is the direction and speed allready detected ?

[fringe_dweller]

Wow!!! Awesome! a bright-already-at-discovery number! that doesnt happen often these days! it would be a very exciting recovery at worst you say!? and maybe a seriously well earned chance at the Edgar Wilson Award methinks ;) :) I can say I knew Terry before he was famous!? ;)

Hearty Congrats Terry! just the first of many such discoveries i'm sure

[xelasnave]

May I add my congratulations Terry. Following this thread is so exciting... astronomy history unfolding before one.
alex

[Dujon]

How fantastic is that! Congratulations, Terry. I wonder if your feet are back on the ground yet?

I do hope that it's a new one and not a return - time will tell.

All the best.

[Ric]

Congratulations Terry, I hope it's a newbie. I know how many hours are put into comet hunting for little or no reward.
I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers

[glenc]

Congratulations Terry. Saw Comet Lovejoy this morning from Leyburn through Michael Horn's scope. He took some images of it.

[RB]

Congratulations Terry on your new discovery, well done.

:clap:

[Gargoyle_Steve]

At the risk of embarrassing myself I'll post this seeking confirmation..........
:P

I've come inside from trying to observe Terry's comet (assuming that it should be visible in my 12" dob). I've been manually starhopping using Terry's positional data from a couple of days ago (and it's estimated movement per day) against Starry Night Pro V5 screen views of this area of sky to try and locate it.

I figured it should be found somewhere a little south of Alpha Indi towards Pavo, somewhat closer to the Indus end (don't take this as gospel, this was my rough figuring). After a couple of minutes of binocular survey the get an idea of the area in question I set my view on Alpha Indi and panned "right" (south) along a line towards the Peacock Star.

I was looking for a diffuse & slightly extended area of coma with a small core region, and I've definitely observed something just like that in pretty much the position I expected to, in fact it took all of about 30 seconds of actual cope time to locate..... something, that I immediately assumed musty be the comet. :thumbsup:
I found this "hazy" object quite easily and clearly in my 17mm 68° ep - around 88x mag.

After I had a quick look I packed the scope up and brought it inside again (being that it's quite late, and I'm ready to get some sleep) however I found myself toying with Starry Night again, and I happened to turned on the NGC/IC object display as well. I suddenly found that the galaxies NGC 6935/37 are pretty darn close to the position I was looking at (roughly midway between my 2 "guide" stars, ie Alpha Indi and the Peacock Star).
:rolleyes:

Paranoia has set in and now I'm wondering if it was the comet I observed, or is it more likely that I've observed these galaxies?? The comet has been estimated to have approx 4' of coma, Starry Night tells me the angular distance between this close galaxy pair is 4' 26" (I have no idea whether they are nearly "merged" or whether there is clear separation betwen the galactic cloud masses). Those dimensions are a bit too close in apparent size to help me differentiate.

I've never seen these galaxies before (nor the comet obviously!) to know what I should have seen from either, so I'm unsure now which object(s) I actually observed, and as it's now after 4am I don't really feel like taking the scope out again tonight.

So has anyone else had a good look yet, or care to comment on what I may or may not have observed?

:shrug:

[glenc]

Steve you saw the mag 9.5 comet. It looks like a globular cluster. Here is an image of NGC 6935.
http://www.ngcic.org/dss/n/6/n6935.jpg

[Gargoyle_Steve]

Thank you very much Glen .... your link shows me very clearly that I was NOT looking at that galaxy pair, I feel so much better now!

I hope everyone gets some clear sky to have a look at this comet asap.

Congrats again to Terry for finding it, I hope it truly does turn out to be "Comet Lovejoy"!

[Greg Bryant]

IAU Circular 8820 has just been issued, officially giving the name of the comet as C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy).

An ephemeris for the comet can be found here.
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2007E2.html

It should reach 7th magnitude in the 2nd half of April.

Regards,

[iceman]

Fantastic! Well done Terry. What a legend.

[fringe_dweller]

Wow should be millions of pre-discovery images - it was very close to McNaught in mid feb! around 5d in the 10's or 11's mag wise? just checking mine :)

[fringe_dweller]

nope - after a quick look, cant be certain/doubtful that I have it in the only really deep/tracked digital image from mid feb I have - it was taken when it was near horizon unfortunately - will check film shots eventually, once scanned - good luck i'm sure some people have it in deep shots :)
this happens a lot, had machholz well in a FOV of widefeld comet shot (T7) but was one or two mags short, if we were using digital we would of had it easy, and just missed having Ikeya Zhang in a comet WM1 widefield, pre-discovery, by a few degrees - weird how this happens kinda regularly! gotta love widefields for that :)

thats assuming the orbital elements/ephemeris for E2 is correct!?

[xstream]

"And His Name Goes Up In Lights".

Congratulations on C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy), Terry.

[fringe_dweller]

heres a quick starry night screen shot showing closest pass to P1 on 15th feb - around 5- 6d apart on that night :)

[Starkler]

:party: well done

I have just updated Cartes Du Ciel comets online and shall take a peek tonight :D

edit: maybe not as it sets at 8.45pm :(

[mill]

Congratulations Terry and i am sure it will be a new discovery :)
No doubt about it.

[Greg Bryant]

It's also worth pointing out that it's been a fine week for Australian comet discoveries. A few days before Terry's find, Gordon Garradd (Loomberah) discovered another comet during the course of the Siding Spring Survey, where he works with Rob McNaught.

An ephemeris for Gordon's comet is here.

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/2007E1.html

A little more challenging to observe than comet Lovejoy, but it might get brighter than 13th magnitude next month.

[netwolf]

Congratulations Terry. Another comet for this year is going to be awesome too look forward to.

Regards

[Portmac]

Congratulations Terry, can I have an autograph :D

[Tamtarn]

Congratulations Terry can't imagine how you must feel. All your time and effort has paid off :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[CometGuy]

Its been an interesting and exciting few days! I guess I am very lucky to have found this comet, SWAN hasn't posted images since mid-February and Siding Springs had bad weather (although it would have been too close to sun for them problably?) and nobody managed to accidentally photograph it near P1 and notice it! Funny thing on February 9 I was trying to frame P1 in the camera preview screen and 2 of the shots would have had 2007E2 at the centre, but alas nothing brighter than 10 is seen.

Terry

[Vet/Father]

Hi all.
JPL had posted path of travel of C/2007 E2(Lovejoy)

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/db_shm?sstr=C%2F2007+E2&group=all&search=Search

:eyepop:

[glenc]

Saw Comet Lovejoy about 3am this morning with 20x80 binoculars, it was a small faint fuzz and seemed to be around the magnitude 9 star HD196401. Confirmed it with a 10" scope which showed it was next the mag 9 star. It was easy to see but not bright in the 10". The comet was not visible in my 7x50 binoculars. The comet was 1.8 degrees to the right of mag 3 alpha Ind. It will be next to alpha Ind on the 22nd & 23rd of March. It moves 8 degrees north (pa 340d) over the next 10 days. On 16/4 it will be next to the PN NGC 6818 & the Gx NGC 6822 and will be about mag 7.5.

[gaa_ian]

Looks like the closest it will get is .445 AU from the earth on the 25th April, just after the 1st 1/4 moon.
Not quite sure where that puts it in the celestial sphere, it did not seem to be in the starry night update I downloaded last night :shrug:

[venus]

Congratulations Terry, fantastic find!

[robin]

Congrats Terry. Any chance of a nice bright tail? LOL!

[dwyman]

Hey, slow down will ya? Save some comets for October when we come to Oz.

**sniff**

[Nuri]

Just goes to show, with perseverance it IS possible to do anything...

[iceman]

Moved map to Maps and Charts Thread (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=18406).

[jjjnettie]

A very big CONGRATULATIONS TERRY!!
Well done, I'm green with envy.
I can't imagine how you must be feeling.

[astro_nutt]

:thumbsup: :) :) :) :) :stargaze: and another congrats to you Terry..well done!!..must be the year for comets!!..(either that or the aliens are playing dodgem spaceship in the Oort cloud!)
Cheers!

[Maxie]

Congratulations that is very exciting news

Maxie

[Comet Hunter]

Congratulations Terry!

It must be an anxious time awaiting confirmation that it's a new discovery.

Well done.

[rogerg]

A huge congratulations to you Terry. You have achieved what most of us only dream of!

I'm sure it's only through dedication, patients and experience that you have ended up with the find.

:thumbsup:

[netwolf]

Help, How to I go about manually adding this to CDC? Updates not available for this yet.

Regards
Fahim

[Astroman]

I took a couple of images of this comet on Saturday Morning (1am) very bright. amazing no spacecraft picked it up. was far enough south to be hidden :) well done terry.

[mickoking]

Onya Terry. I hope this Comet kicks Arse :)

[Fomalhaut]

@ netwolf: you dont have to manually add the comet, just open the online ressource button on the upper right and press update. After that u will see the comet in the searchlist and solar system, then comets, there it is .

Hope i could help you.

[netwolf]

I could not find an online resource button, however I did the update from within the configuration section and downloaded the latest Comet.dat. That did the trick, now I have it.

Regards

[square_peg114GT]

Good job, Terry! :thumbsup:

[Astroman]

For my images look here >>>> http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=203957&postcount=1

[CometGuy]

Nice shot Andrew, I think I can see the beginning of tail.

Terry

[CometGuy]

If anyone is in Brisbane check out the Courier Mail tommorrow might be an article on comet and its discoverer. On second thoughts if it includes the 'Oh What a feeling...Toyota' photo maybe not :)

Terry

[iceman]

ooh take a picture Terry, congrats! :) The first of many, I suspect :P

[Astroman]

I only wish I had more time to photograph it, it was moving relatively fast visually over an hour..

Is it true that this comet will only reach Mag 7? still a great effort, not every comet would be a Mc Naught. Would be good to see it again. love the green.

[ballaratdragons]

Terry,

I offer my congratulations.

Whether 'Comet Lovejoy' gets bright or stays at it is, is immaterial. The fact that you found it first is the best news.

I am pleased to say I witnessed your Comet from the Snake Valley Camp on the Friday Night/Sat Morning thru Andrews (Astromans) camera and ED80.

Thanks to Bert for ringing us at Camp with the news of the discovery and it's location as more news came to hand. Those of us at Camp were kept up to date via the 'Bert Link'.

Feel proud, and enjoy it. You deserve it.

[glenc]

Looked at Terry's comet again this morning with 20x80s and the 12" dob. It was close to alpha Ind (30' away) so a bit difficult in the binoculars. No tail yet in the 12" but the coma was easy to see.

[CometGuy]

Page 7 Courier mail. Link :

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21430687-3102,00.html

Terry

[iceman]

Excellent! Well done Terry!

[Astroman]

Very good article.

[DobDobDob]

I'm with the other lads, that was an excellent story in the newspaper, which will probably inspire more people to become interested in astronomy than you will ever actually know. Top stuff :thumbsup:

[Astroman]

I like how they clearly mention the DSLR camera as the finding equipment, I can see hundreds of people going out now and photographing the sky, but little do they know how hard it actually is. Or more to the point how long it takes.

[h0ughy]

Excellent, you must be walking on air??? here is a pdf for posterity;)

[evonski]

Congrats Terry!

Great story, I've just found out about your discovery via email today
Hope we all get a like pportunity in our lives.....
Great image gallery also

Keep on searching......

[fringe_dweller]

I wanna see the 'oh what a feeling shot'! :) good to see mainstream recognition of your efforts Terry!

[CometGuy]

Thanks Houghy for the pdf.

Honestly, the amount of attention was actually more than I bargained for (I am a fairly private person) and I would have been more than happy with recognition I got from my peers. So I am feeling pretty squeemish at the moment, but I guess everyone has to have their 15 minutes of fame! Even my work (several thousand employees) wants to run an article in their newsletter so wow!

Anyway Mike mugshot's coming.....

Kearn...he he nope that pictures safe and sound with me!

Terry

[tornado33]

Congrats.
Is this the first comet ever found with a DSLR?
Scott

[Vet/Father]

Here's a good image taken by Dave Herald (Aust)on March 22nd. :thumbsup:

http://www.igomoo.com/aaa/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&Itemid=26&page=inline&catid=29&id=60&limitstart=0&limit=1&limitstart=9

Getting brighter now at @ 8.5 mag(March 23rd)...

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/icq/CometMags.html

[Tomek]

Good day Australia

Hello from Poland

New mean new one ? second one ?

It is nice picture to made by german astronomer Sebastian F. Hoenigon Tahiti
http://www.sungrazer.org/C2007E2_Lovejoy_sc_bg_ls.jpg

we are waiting on the green comet colour pictures

[Tomek]

ups apologieze forum now is upsidedown dont know how to cheange this .

[CometGuy]

Scott,

Yes it is the first DSLR discovery. I am suprised more people haven't recognised the capability of these cameras for doing surveys for nova and comets. Many people don't think they have the sensitivity necessary for that work.

Terry

[Astroman]

Well if you can reach 16th magnitude on a series of 40 second exposures, anything is possible. I had not thought of doing it.

[john_drummond]

Yes, well done Terry. It was an agonising wait waiting for comet rise here in NZ, but when it did I was stoked to see (confirm) the comet through my 16" Dobsonian - and photograph it. Congrats on achieving two goals this year mate...

John Drummond
Gisborne, New Zealand

[glenc]

Saw Comet Lovejoy again this morning. It was small and faint with 20x80 binoculars.

[h0ughy]

Welcome Tomek, what a fantastic image, I didnt realise there is that much of a tail at this stage. Fantastic resut.:thumbsup:

[jimmyc]

Space is sooo cool dude. Great job Terry. Love the work, dude! :thumbsup:

[DobDobDob]

Yeah, and there's plenty of it :whistle:

[Vet/Father]

This new great image from Dale Herald is very interesting.
I too am wondering "What is It?"
Anybody have any ideas ?, please:help:

http://www.igomoo.com/aaa/index.php?option=com_rsgallery2&Itemid=26&page=inline&id=180&catid=29&limitstart=16

BTW..Comet Lovejoy is getting alot of news coverages today, check out google(keyword: Comet LoveJoy--news) here's one from msnbc:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17872359/

[CometGuy]

Important Note to any budding Comet discoverers - make sure you have 1) caller ID and 2) an answering machine!

I can't believe the amount of coverage this has got, I am sure the last couple of amateur comet discoveries didn't get this much attention. If it looked like becoming a bright naked eye comet you might understand :)

BTW Mike I sent you a PM regarding interview.

Terry

[jjjnettie]

Methinks you would rather fortune than fame eh Terry?

[iceman]

yep, got it thanks. Will be updating it today.