During this January, if your skies are not light polluted, look near the Pleiades with the naked eye on a clear, dark evening sky and you might catch small green glow representing Comet Lovejoy (C/2014 Q2). Comets are very large pieces of ice that travel through space, leaving a tail of gas and dust. The term “comet” comes from the Greek kometes, which means “wearing long hair.”
C/2014 Q2 was discovered by Australian amateur Terry Lovejoy in August 2014. At the time of this writing, the comet is about 44 million miles away from Earth. Below is a chart of the comet’s location during January 2015. After it leaves the planetary region, it is estimated that C/2014 Q2 will not be seen again in another 8000 years.