New Southern Comet

[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 (John)]

"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 (Geoff)]

well done

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

edit: maybe not as it sets at 8.45pm

[mill (Martin)]

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/Ephem...ts/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

[Tamtarn]

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

[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_s...&search=Search

[glenc (Glen)]

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 (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

[venus (Lydia)]

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 (Mike)]

Moved map to Maps and Charts Thread.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

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

[astro_nutt]

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!