See Comet Lovejoy in 2015: Where to Look in the Night Sky

For the rest of the month, and into early February 2015, there should be some excellent viewing opportunities to see Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2) in the night skies in for those in the Northern Hemisphere.

An amazing celestial object with a greenish tint and blueish tail, Comet Lovejoy can be seen well with the naked eye in darker skies. For a better view, or in more light-polluted areas, the use of binoculars or a telescope is recommended.



At about 50 million miles from earth, lovejoy is easy to spot. To see Comet Lovejoy this month, look near the easily recognizable stars of Orion’s belt.


Orion will appear almost due south in the sky around 8pm, and Comet Lovejoy can currently be seen just to the west of the 3 belt stars and slightly up. In fact, for the next few weeks, the stars in Orion’s belt will act as pointers if you follow them as they form a line that goes slightly up and to the right.

To further help you spot Comet Lovejoy this week, the comet will pass just to the right of the Pleiades star cluster (M45) also known as the 7-sisters. This small grouping of stars is also sometimes mistaken for people as the little dipper because it appears to form a small spoon.