If you live in the Northern Hemisphere the next few weeks offer a superb opportunity to spot Comet Jacques. The comet appears high in the sky and passes just north of the famous and easily recognisable "W" of Cassiopeia. Although not visible to the naked eye, Jacques shines at 7th magnitude and therefore within the range of binoculars and small telescopes.

Jacques was discovered by Cristovao Jacques, Eduardo Pimentel and Joao Ribeiro de Barros on March 13, 2014, shining at a dim magnitude +14.7. The comet passed perihelion on July 2nd when it approached to within 0.66 AU (99 million kilometres or 61 million miles) of the Sun. On August 28th, Jacques will pass closest to the Earth at distance of 0.56 AU (84 million kilometres or 52 million miles). It will be visible in Cepheus at magnitude +7.5 on this day.

Location and star chart

Before, during and after flyby of Earth, Jacques moves at it's fastest against the "fixed" background stars. The comet began August in the constellation Auriga before moving into Perseus on August 5th. It then passed into Camelopardalis on August 14th remaining there for a few days before moving into Cassiopeia on the 18th. Jacques is currently moving westwards and between August 22nd and 26th passes about 5 degrees north of the Cassiopeia "W" asterism. With a declination of 60+ degrees north during this time, Jacques is circumpolar and hence visible all night from latitudes of 30N or more. On August 26th, the comet moves into Cepheus where it remains for the rest of the month. It will pass 0.5 degrees south of Herschel's famous Garnet Star (μ Cep - mag. +4.1(v)) on the last day of the month. From southern temperate latitudes, Jacques won't be visible again until early September.

The comet is expected to fade from magnitude +6.5 to +7.6 during August. So far it has put on a fine show with a nice coma and small tail visible through binoculars and small telescopes. Photographically it looks green in appearance.

The finder chart below shows the positions of Jacques from August 22 to August 31, 2014.

Comet Jacques (C/2014 E2) Finder Chart from August 22 to 31, 2014 - pdf format

C/2014 E2 (Jacques) Data (at epoch May 23, 2014)

Comet (C/2014 E2) Jacques Data Table

Comet (C/2014 E2) Jacques Data Table

See also

Comet Jacques (C/2014 E2) now within small telescope range
Comet Jacques (C/2014 E2) visible with binoculars and small scopes
Comet Jacques (C/2014 E2) moves north, remains visible with binoculars
Comet Jacques (C/2014 E2) remains within binocular range
Comet Jacques (C/2014 E2) high in the sky during September