C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)

DEPARTED

Type: Periodic Perihelion date: 30 January 2015 Perihelion distance (q): 1.3 Aphelion distance (Q) : 1,158 Period (years): 13,956 Eccentricity (e): 1.00 Inclination (i): 80.3 JPL orbit diagram COBS lightcurve Terry Lovejoy discovered a 15th magnitude comet in CCD images taken with his 0.2m Schmidt-Cassegrain on 16 August 2014. The comet was within visual range by September 2014, with Paul Camilleri reporting it at 13th magnitude. It brightened rapidly prior to perihelion. The comet was an easy binocular and naked eye object around the time of perihelion, coming into view for UK observers around Christmas 2014. Once the moon left the sky in January, the comet was readily visible at magnitude 4. On January 8 the ion tail suffered a disconnection event, which was widely covered by amateur imaging from around the world. Many observers were able to see the comet with the naked eye, but visually the tail was generally hard to see. After perihelion it faded very slowly. During the first half of February the comet remained at around 5th magnitude. By early March it was around 5.5 and by the end of the month 6.5. It had faded to 8 by the end of May and was closing on 9th magnitude by the end of June. Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude) Date 10x10 mag Error VEmag Coma ' 27-Aug-14 14.93 0.01 14.2 0.3 07-Sep-14 14.80 0.02 13.6 0.4 11-Sep-14 14.82 0.02 14.0 0.3 15-Sep-14 14.82 0.02 13.8 0.3 20-Sep-14 14.73 0.01 13.6 0.6 26-Sep-14 14.15 0.02 13.1 0.4 02-Oct-14 13.84 0.03 12.5 0.2 06-Oct-14 13.86 0.02 12.6 0.5 11-Oct-14 13.31 0.03 12.0 0.4 15-Oct-14 13.37 0.01 11.6 0.6 20-Oct-14 13.22 0.01 11.6 0.7 24-Oct-14 13.08 0.02 11.1 0.5 01-Nov-14 12.73 0.01 10.9 0.5 05-Nov-14 12.67 0.03 10.4 0.6 09-Nov-14 12.46 0.01 10.2 0.9 16-Nov-14 12.23 0.04 9.5 1.6 22-Nov-14 12.03 0.02 9.1 4.4 25-Nov-14 11.71 0.01 8.4 4.6 28-Nov-14 11.80 0.01 8.3 4.7 01-Dec-14 11.25 0.02 7.7 4.7 04-Dec-14 11.19 0.04 7.8 4.8 07-Dec-14 11.31 0.01 7.9 4.1 11-Dec-14 10.85 0.01 7.7 7.2 14-Dec-14 10.72 0.01 7.5 6.0 16-Dec-14 10.34 0.05 7.2 5.4 17-Dec-14 10.34 0.03 7.1 8.1 18-Dec-14 10.31 0.02 7.0 7.9 19-Dec-14 10.17 0.05 7.1 8.0 20-Dec-14 10.13 0.04 7.1 7.9 23-Dec-14 9.91 0.02 6.9 9.0 25-Dec-14 9.86 0.04 6.8 8.9 27-Dec-14 9.59 0.02 6.5 9.3 29-Dec-14 9.59 0.03 6.5 9.8 31-Dec-14 9.52 0.02 6.5 8.6 14-Jan-15 9.36 0.02 6.2 9.7 16-Jan-15 9.38 0.02 6.3 9.3 24-Jan-15 9.54 0.02 6.4 7.8 15-Aug-15 13.64 0.02 10.6 4.7 22-Aug-15 13.72 0.01 10.6 3.6 19-Sep-15 14.35 0.02 11.2 0.5 27-Sep-15 14.33 0.03 11.2 1.6 02-Oct-15 14.57 0.01 11.3 2.4 23-Oct-15 14.91 0.01 11.9 1.1 04-Feb-16 16.25 0.05 13.2 0.2