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Terry Lovejoy

@cometguy.bsky.social

210 followers 42 following 84 posts

Amateur Astronomer & Comet Discoverer Would be House Renovator Dabbler of Photography Like Mountain walks IT when I feel like it

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 18d

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 24d

Darker skies, meant I could get a much deeper image of the new comet. This is a 5 x 5 degree crop. Sep 14 9hrs UT.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 25d

The new comet from home. This is September 13 8:47, 2025 UT. I've cropped it 4 x 4 degrees and I've marked the bright star Spica and Mars. The uneven sky background is a unfortunate consequence of strong light pollution from home.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 26d

This is what I a seeing as well with the last set of observations.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 27d

No I didn't, the sky is way too bright in that direction to pick up a 7th magnitude comet (at least in small binoculars). Maybe tomorrow.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 27d

Not officially announced yet, it appears on the Minor Planet Center page as "SWAN25B" : minorplanetcenter.net/iau/NEO/pccp...

The Possible Comet Confirmation Page

We are the official body that deals with astrometric observations and orbits of minor planets (asteroids) and comets.

minorplanetcenter.net

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 27d

How did a comet this bright go undetected until today? This is 3 x 1 degree crop from an image stack I made tonight (Sep 12 8:40 UT) from my balcony.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 27d

Great detective work by you and Gary!

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 27d

Andrew Pearce wrote to Bill Gray to see if the 3 new positions had much impact on the computed orbit and the answer is not really. We would need better astrometry across the whole observing arc. Nominally, he has perihelion Sep 2061 +/- 7 months.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 28d

Here is some more images from Cordoba.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 28d

FOV is 2.33 x 2.33 degrees and star 25 Ceti is to the lower right

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 28d

Big thanks to Andrew and Perth Observatory! Hope they don't me posting the April 24, 1917, image which I help clean up so they could plate solve it.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Sep 6

Comet C/1963 A1 (Ikeya) doppelgänger?

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Sep 6

"Nice chops" as we would say here in Oz!

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 31

Not nearly enough, its my escapism. I love that it is an easy 3 hour flight from near tropical Brisbane to here.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 30

G. P. Bond is credited with taking the first ever photograph of a comet. Comet C/1858 L1 (Donati) on Sep 28, 1858.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 30

I think it was close to 10km round trip and just under 1000m vertical climb. I chose not to go all the way to the summit which would have added another 3.5km and 350m vertical. You can see why here -->

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 29

I always consider C/2014 Q2 the doppelganger for C/2004 Q2. Similar orbit, brightness as well as passage across the sky, almost exactly 10 years apart!

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 26

Did you want to borrow my reciprocating saw?

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 23

MSAGA?

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 21

Only 101 years to wait for the next return - which should be an impressive return!

Reposted by Terry Lovejoy

Maik Meyer ☄️ @comethunter.de · Aug 17

#bskycometography no. 272

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy)

2014 Aug 17: Discovered by @cometguy.bsky.social T. Lovejoy (Australia) at 15 mag. The comet reached 3-4 mag shortly prior perihelion (2015 Jan 27 at 1.28 au) and was last seen on 2016 Sep 10. Its period is about 7000 years.
☄️🔭 #CometWatch

Image of comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) by Michael Jäger, https://fg-kometen.vdsastro.de/pix/test/bild.php?nr=11759

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 18

👀

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 6

Very nice comet, it was awesome seeing a 5th magnitude comet and Supernova 1987A together in binoculars.

Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · Aug 4

As part of my normal morning routine, I go to bsky and look for the latest #bskycometograph y post :) Keep posting Maik!