Lovejoy by Lovejoy

Affiliation(s): AAQ

Session details: Saturday, 2012-04-07 04:15:00

Abstract

Comet Lovejoy was discovered on 27 November 2011 by Terry Lovejoy of Thornlands, Queensland, during a comet survey using a 20 cm (7.9 in) Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope and a QHY9 CCD camera. He reported that it was “a rapidly moving fuzzy object” of 13th magnitude, and additional observations were made by him over the next couple of nights.

Independent confirmation of the comet did not come until 1 December, when it was observed by Alan Gilmore and Pamela Kilmartin at the Mount John University Observatory in New Zealand, using its 100 cm (39 in) McLellan Telescope. Upon confirmation, an official report was made to the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, and the comet’s existence was announced by the Minor Planet Center on 2 December. It is the first Kreutz-group comet discovered by ground-based observation in 40 years.

Terry tells his story…

Biography

Lovejoy is known for his modifications to consumer-grade digital cameras for digital camera astrophotography. All digital cameras come with built-in filters that cut off infrared light. Unfortunately, they also cut off some of the red light that many deep space objects emit. After he published procedures to modify those filters, many amateur astronomers were able to improve their deep space photography.

In 15 March 2007, he discovered a new comet with one of the cameras. After confirmation by the IAU, the comet, C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy), now carries his name. Two months later, he discovered another comet, designated C/2007 K5 (Lovejoy). On 27 November 2011, with his third discovery of a comet, C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy), he became the first astronomer in over 40 years to discover a Kreutz Sungrazing comet from a ground based observation. This discovery also makes him the only person to have discovered Kreutz sungrazers both from ground based observation and from images obtained by spatial telescopes. The discovery was made using a Celestron C8 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope working at f/2.1 with a QHY9 CCD camera.

The asteroid 61342 Lovejoy is named in his honour