Terry Lovejoy (born 20 November 1966) is an

information technologist Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...

from

Thornlands, Queensland Thornlands is a coastal residential locality in the City of Redland, Queensland, Australia. In the , Thornlands had a population of 14,694 people. The area is now primarily suburban residences, with the southern parts rural residences, compris ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, most widely known as an

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

. He has discovered six

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

s, including

C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) Comet Lovejoy, formally designated C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy), is a long-period comet and Kreutz sungrazer. It was discovered in November 2011 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy. The comet's perihelion took it through the Sun's corona on ...

, the first Kreutz Sungrazing comet discovered by ground-based observation in over 40 years. He is also known for popularizing procedures for modifying consumer-grade digital cameras so that they can be used for digital camera astrophotography.

Astrophotography

Lovejoy is known among amateur astronomers for identifying modifications to

digital camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...

s needed for astrophotography. Such cameras come configured with built-in filters that cut off

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

light. 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.

Gordon J. Garradd Gordon John Garradd (born 1959) is an Australian amateur astronomer and photographer from Loomberah, New South Wales. He has discovered numerous asteroids and comets, including the hyperbolic comet C/2009 P1, and four novae in the Large Magell ...

named 61342 Lovejoy in honor of Lovejoy after discovering it on August 3, 2000. On 15 March 2007, Lovejoy used a standard camera to discover the comet C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy). Two months later, he discovered another comet, designated C/2007 K5 (Lovejoy) using the modified camera. On 27 November 2011, with his discovery of

, he became the first astronomer in over 40 years to discover a Kreutz Sungrazing comet from a ground-based observation. The discovery was made using a

Celestron Celestron is an American company based in Torrance, California, United States, that manufactures telescopes and distributes telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, and accessories manufactured by its parent company, the Synta Technol ...

Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope The Schmidt–Cassegrain is a catadioptric telescope that combines a Cassegrain reflector's optical path with a Schmidt corrector plate to make a compact astronomical instrument that uses simple spherical surfaces. Invention and design The A ...

working at f/2.1 with a QHY9 CCD camera. On 7 September 2013, Lovejoy discovered comet C/2013 R1 (Lovejoy) which became visible to the naked eye in November 2013. On 17 August 2014, Lovejoy discovered comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) in the constellation

Puppis Puppis is a constellation in the southern sky. Puppis, the Latin translation of "poop deck", was originally part of an over-large constellation Argo Navis (the ship of Jason and the Argonauts), which centuries after its initial description, was ...

. His most recent discovery, C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy), was confirmed on March 13, 2017.

Gallery

Comet Lovejoy Visits La Silla.jpg, Comet Lovejoy over

La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomy, astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The obse ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovejoy, Terry Living people People from South East Queensland 21st-century Australian astronomers People in information technology Australian computer specialists Discoverers of comets 1966 births People from Redland City