 Comet Lovejoy on 19 January 2015[1] | |
| Discovery[2][3] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Terry Lovejoy 0.2-mSchmidt |
| Discovery site | Birkdale Observatory (Q80) |
| Discovery date | 17 August 2014 |
| Designations | |
| CK14Q020[3] | |
| Orbital characteristics[6][7] | |
| Epoch | 30 March 2015 (JD 2457111.5) |
| Observation arc | 2.2 years (802 days) |
| Earliestprecovery date | 1 July 2014 |
| Number of observations | 7,890 |
| Aphelion | ~1,160 AU |
| Perihelion | 1.291 AU |
| Semi-major axis | ~580 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.99811 |
| Orbital period | ~11,000 years (inbound)[4] ~8,000 years (outbound)[4] |
| Inclination | 80.301° |
| 94.975° | |
| Argument of periapsis | 12.395° |
| Mean anomaly | 0.004° |
| Last perihelion | 30 January 2015[5] |
| TJupiter | 0.246 |
| EarthMOID | 0.320 AU |
| JupiterMOID | 3.811 AU |
| Physical characteristics[6] | |
Mean radius | 6.0 km (3.7 mi)[8] |
| 17.89±0.17 hours[9] | |
| Comet total magnitude (M1) | 9.1 |
| 4.0 (2015 apparition) | |
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is anon-periodic comet discovered on 17 August 2014 byTerry Lovejoy using a 0.2-meter (8 in)Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope.[3] It was discovered as a 15th-magnitude object in the southernconstellation ofPuppis.[3] It is the fifth comet discovered by Terry Lovejoy.
By December 2014, the comet had brightened to roughly magnitude 7.4,[10] making it a small telescope andbinoculars target. By mid-December, the comet was visible to thenaked eye for experienced observers with dark skies and keen eyesight.[11] On 28–29 December 2014, the comet passed 1/3° fromglobular clusterMessier 79.[12] In January 2015, it brightened to roughly magnitude 4,[13] and became one of the brightest comets located high in a dark sky since cometC/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp) in 1997. On 7 January 2015, the comet passed 0.469 AU (70.2 million km; 43.6 million mi) from Earth.[6] It crossed thecelestial equator on 9 January 2015, becoming better seen from theNorthern Hemisphere.[14] The comet came toperihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 30 January 2015, at a distance of 1.29 AU (193 million km; 120 million mi) from the Sun.[5] At perihelion, its water production rate exceeded 20 metric tons per second.[15]
C/2014 Q2 originated from theOort cloud,[15] but is not a dynamically new comet.[7] Before entering the planetary region (epoch 1950), C/2014 Q2 had an orbital period of about11000 years, with an aphelion about 995 AU (148.8 billion km; 92.5 billion mi) from the Sun.[4] After leaving the planetary region (epoch 2050), it will have an orbital period of about 8,000 years, with aphelion of about 800 AU.[4]
The nucleus of Comet Lovejoy was estimated to be 6.0 km (3.7 mi) in radius,[8] with a rotation period that is completed once every17.89±0.17 hours.[9]
The comet was observed to release 21 differentorganic molecules in gas, includingethanol andglycolaldehyde, a simple sugar.[15][16] The presence of organic molecules suggests that they are preserved materials synthesized in the outskirts of thesolar nebula or at earlier stages of theSolar System formation.[15] The observed gas production rate from the comet was relatively high, estimated to be approximately 5×1029 molecules/sec, which caused the density of ionized water vapor to be effectively constant throughout its inner coma.[17]
Its blue-green glow is the result of organic molecules (mostlydiatomic carbon) and water released by the comet fluorescing under the intense UV and optical light of the Sun as it passes through space.[15][18]
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