Free public viewings of comet and Jupiter will take place Jan. 13 and Jan. 23, respectively, at UC Riverside

By Iqbal Pittalwala on January 9, 2015

Comet Lovejoy.Photo credit: NASA/MSFC/MEO/Aaron Kingery

RIVERSIDE, Calif. Astronomy enthusiasts are in for a treat in the coming weeks. Actually, two treats.

On Tuesday, Jan. 13, the public will have an opportunity to view Comet Lovejoy, designated C2014/Q2, through telescopes set up at the University of California, Riverside, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The viewing will take place in the lawn south of Pierce Hall and the Science Laboratories 1 Building, a short walk from the bell tower. UC Riverside astronomers will be available to discuss the comet in English, Spanish and Farsi.

Lovejoy C2014/Q2, discovered in August 2012 by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy in Australia, is the first comet visible with the naked eye in 2015.

Most comets dont achieve such a high brightness, so this is a perfect opportunity to go into dark sky areas, or use your binoculars and telescopes, to watch an easily identifiable comet, said Mario de Leo Winkler, a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, who is organizing the viewing. Predicting how the brightness of the comet will evolve with time is a very hard task and full of unexpected changes. Lovejoy C2014/Q2 entered the naked-eye visibility threshold brightness magnitude 6 or less in mid-December and is expected to stay that way until mid-February. Peak brightness is expected in mid-January, around 4.1 magnitude.

De Leo Winkler explained that the comet is crossing the night sky fast, going higher above the horizon as January progresses, making it easier to see it, from the Northern Hemisphere, near constellations Orion, Taurus and Perseus. The comets orbital period around the sun was estimated at 11,000 years before it entered the gravitational pull of all planets and the sun. It has now been altered to 8,000 year, approximately, after its inner-Solar System path.

The closest it will be to the sun, its perihelion, will be on Jan. 30, De Leo Winkler said.

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Night Sky to Offer Treats to Astronomy Fans