Comet Watch

Young stargazers watch Comet Lovejoy (C/2013 R1) in the night sky. Photographed with a telephoto lens the comet appears larger and brighter than it was visible to unaided eyes like a faint fuzzy little cloud. Click on the second photo to see how it looked to unaided eyes near to the Big Dipper in Ursa Major. Noted by the photographer: “It was a beautiful sight in binoculars. With my children I went out that night to see comet Lovejoy. The photo shows us standing on Vikings grave-hills in Vallentuna, Sweden. At the top-middle you can also see the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) if you look carefully. As well well the pale green waves of clouds in the sky which is airglow (natural emission of the Earth upper atmosphere).”