Comet Lovejoy
21 Mar at 14:57 by Wilson
A new comet was discovered by an Australian amateur astronomer: comet 2007 E2, aka “Lovejoy” (named not after the Reverend, but the discoverer, Terry Lovejoy). The Possum Observatory (John Drummond, in Gisborne, New Zealand) has a bit more information and a picture.
NASA has a simulation of the orbit of this comet, but I don’t know how accurate it is at the moment. It seems to indicate that it will swing by relatively close to Earth (0.445 AU) on 25 April, although it will be over 1 AU away from the Sun at the time; I have no idea (and I don’t think anyone does) of how bright it will be at the time. Judging by the fact that it is, right now, very close to its closest approach to the Sun (at 1.1 AU) and it is a 9th magnitude object (although with a somewhat long, if faint, tail), I wouldn’t expect it to become a particularly interesting object visually.
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