bendedreality.com
| Another Comet Discovered by 'Lovejoy' Now Visible in the Northern Hemisphere
Terry Lovejoy's new comet has gone from faint to bright in just three weeks and is now a tempting binocular target at dawn. Who doesn't love a comet that exceeds expectations? That's exactly what's happening with Terry Lovejoy's latest discovery, C/2017 E4 Lovejoy. Discovered on March 10th at magnitude +12, early observations suggested a peak magnitude of +9 in mid-April, assuming it didn't crumble apart en route to an April 23rd perihelion. Forget that. This fuzzball's already at magnitude +7 - 7.5 and a snap to see in 50-mm binoculars. I know because I got up Wednesday morning (March 29th) shortly before the start of dawn, pointed my 10×50 glass just below the figure of Equuleus, the Little Horse, and saw a small, dense ball of glowing fuzz without even trying. Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak — now circumpolar in Ursa Major — shines at a similar brightness, but it's larger and less condensed and therefore not as easy to see as Lovejoy. A little more than a week ago, Comet Lovejoy