Comet Lovejoy

A new comet discovered by a digital camera, Comet Lovejoy.

IAU Circular No. 8819 states -
COMET 2007 E2
Terry Lovejoy, Thornlands, Queensland, Australia, reports his discovery of a comet with a strong central condensation and a green extended 4' coma, with a slight extension to the southwest, on sixteen 90-s CCD images obtained on Mar. 15 with a Canon 350D camera (+ 200-mm f/2.8 lens); the coma diameter was given as 5' from his Mar. 16 frame (his positions below have estimated uncertainties of +/- 15"). At Lovejoy's request, J. Drummond (Gisborne, New Zealand, 0.41-m reflector) confirmed the comet visually at mag 9.5 (moderately condensed, coma diameter 2'.6, no tail).

2007 UT R.A. (2000) Decl. Mag. Observer
Mar. 15.727 20 44 05.5 -51 14 14 10 Lovejoy
15.736 20 44 06.1 -51 13 22 "
16.525 20 43 02.7 -50 49 35 9.5 Drummond
16.625 20 42 59.5 -50 45 39 "
16.704 20 42 55.2 -50 43 14 9.3 Lovejoy