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Old 27-12-2014, 03:45 PM
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cometcatcher (Kevin)
<--- Comet Hale-Bopp

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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Cloudy Mackay
Posts: 6,542
A peak magnitude of around 4ish sounds reasonable to me. Much better than the original predicted peak of mag 9 !

In my experience, comets are often given optimistic brightness peaks that they never reach. But 2014 Q2 is different in that it has exceeded expectations. This is not the first time 2014 Q2 has ventured into the inner solar system. As a returning comet with a period of several thousand years, it doesn't just rely on surface frosting for it's "fuel" as new to the inner solar system 2013 A1 Siding Spring did.

The best thing about 2014 Q2 Lovejoy is the constantly changing ion tail. It has kinks, bends, swirls, disconnections, multiple streamers and all sorts of action happening that change every few minutes! While it will not reach comet of the century status, it's one of the more interesting ones to watch.
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