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Comet Q2 Lovejoy Loses Tail, Grows Another, Loses That One Too!
Hasta la vista, baby! Panel of negative images showing the outer tail of Comet Lovejoy disconnecting and drifting away from the comet on and around December 23-24th. Credit: Hisayoshi Kato
Maybe you’ve seen Comet Q2 Lovejoy. It’s a big fuzzy ball in binoculars low in the southern sky in the little constellation Lepus the Hare. That’s the comet’s coma or temporary atmosphere of dust and gas that forms when ice vaporizes in sunlight from the nucleus. Until recently a faint 3° ion or gas tail trailed in the coma’s wake, but on and around December 23rd it snapped off and was ferried away by the solar wind. Just as quickly, Lovejoy re-grew a new ion tail but can’t seem to hold onto that one either. Like a feather in the wind, it’s in the process of being whisked away today.(…)
Read the rest of Comet Q2 Lovejoy Loses Tail, Grows Another, Loses That One Too! (706 words)
© Bob King for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: 2P/encke, aurora, CME, Comet C/2014 Q2 Lovejoy, disconnection, ion tail
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/117635/comet-q2-lovejoy-loses-tail-grows-another-loses-that-one-too/
Here’s proof that it is not a comet at all, but a giant, intergalactic salamander. Run for your lives!