Comet Lovejoy Tail Disruption Event

C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 15, 2015, 01:32 UT.   47x60 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)
C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 15, 2015, 01:32 UT. 47×60 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 (stock.)
Negative View - C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 14, 2015, 01:08 UT.  42x90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 DSLR.
Negative View – C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) on Feb 14, 2015, 01:08 UT. 42×90 sec @ ISO 3200, TV-85 at F/5.6, IDAS-LPS, Canon T3 DSLR.

The nearly disconnected tail of Lovejoy blowing in the solar wind.   Something in the local space environment disrupted it within the last 2 days, it seems. Probably some kind of solar event like a CME or rogue magnetic field change caused this.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

4 + 16 =