A new comet discovered by Terry Lovejoy (his 5th!), official name C/2014 Q2, is heading North and has gradually brightened. Currently it shines at magnitude 5.5, barely visible with the unaided eye even in a very dark sky, but relatively easy in binoculars.

IAA member John C McConnell has imaged the comet – shown here, taken with a 50mm lens at f2.2 for 10 seconds.

Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy by IAA member John C McConnell 28th Dec 0045 UT

The Comet is currently moving up through Lepus and into Eridanus then on up towards Taurus. It is expected to attain maximum brightness around 7th January when it will be to the upper right of Rigel and almost directly below The Hyades.

Location maps available at Heavens-Above here…

Path through the sky at Virtual Telescope here…

Over the past two decades more than one thousand planets have been discovered outside our Solar System. What is even more interesting is that we have started to investigate atmospheres of these planets using telescopes both on the ground and in space. In this talk I will show how we can study the atmospheres of these alien worlds, and what we have learned from these observations.