Comet ISON is capturing all the current headlines, but comet Lovejoy is also becoming bright in the early morning skies.
Comet ISON is capturing all the current headlines, but here’s another comet in the early morning skies. At a magnitude 5, comet Lovejoy is barely visible to the unaided eye in the constellation of Ursa Major, but it really stands out in a good pair of binoculars. Taken on Nov. 19, 2013, this three-minute exposure shows the comet and its tail, while the galaxy at the top left is NGC 3665. At the time of this image, comet Lovejoy was 37 million miles from Earth, very near to its closest approach. It is currently inbound toward the sun and will reach perihelion between Earth and Venus on Dec.22.
Image credit: NASA/MSFC/Jacobs Technology/ESSSA/Aaron Kingery