![]() ![]() A tail of material splays out behind the comet’s nucleus, crafted by gas and dust blown from the comet by the wind of charged particles streaming out from the Sun. This image displays the characteristic soft green glow of the comet, produced as molecules of carbon are heated by the Sun. The distance between the Earth and the Sun is defined as 1 astronomical unit (au), or just under 150 million kilometres Comet Lovejoy came within 1.29 au of our star, placing it between the orbits of Earth and Mars (1.52 au). ![]() It entered the inner Solar System for the first recorded time in 2014, and reached perihelion - its closest approach to the Sun - on 30 January 2015. Like most comets, Comet Lovejoy enjoys a long, elliptical and eccentric orbit around the Sun. Captured by ESO Photo Ambassador Petr Horálek, Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) appears to streak across the sky (centre left of the image), sneaking past the two telescopes below: ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope (left) and the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (SEST). An unusual type of tourist is seen visiting ESO’s La Silla Observatory in this stunning wide-angle photograph taken in January 2015. ![]()
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