http://www.flickr.com/photos/byry/6600402773/in/photostream/lightbox/ (Lovejoy & a Leonis Minoris meteor).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/byry/6593520137/in/photostream/lightbox/ (Lovejoy, meteor + startrail)

http://vimeo.com/34320655 (Lovejoy & Leonis Minoris meteor shower) – still trying to figure Vimeo out.. might reupload in the future in higher res.

Cheers

Ry

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/special-features/comet-lovejoy-looms-in-eastern-sky/story-e6frg1ac-1226231129231

&

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/christmas-comet-is-an-eye-opener/story-e6frea6u-1226229798757

&

http://search.news.com.au/search?us=ndmadelaidenow&as=ADV&q=Comet+Lovejoy

For direct links to photos and articles comet Lovejoy~wise. Well semi-direct for that last one!

You’re another South Aussie here I take it? 8)

BTW. That link just takes you to their main online front page – but typing Comet Lovejoy into the search box there quickly brings up some good results.

PS. Finally saw Comet Lovejoy this morning as I’ve mentioned on a BA blog thread or two already. Click on my name for details.

Extra info. from the comment (#49.) by Darren linked to my name here via the old ‘Beam Me Up’ BA blog thread :

“In contrast, the laser beam is bright enough to see its color with our eyes. The only issue is that on the image the laser beam looks really bright (due to long exposure time), while in reality it has a very deep and dim orange color.”
- Yuri Beletsky, astrophotographer.

No idea how far away it can be seen from however. I suspect not all that far but could well be wrong. Anyone know more & care to enlighten us, please? (I gather at least one Paranal worker sometimes comments here.)

Maybe something to send as a e-mail question to the ESO & Paranal VLT telescope?

Still not sure if this really answers your question but Wikipedia also has an item on laser guide stars observing :

Sodium beacons are created by using a laser specially tuned to 589.2 nanometers to energize a layer of sodium atoms which are naturally present in the mesosphere at an altitude of around 90 kilometers.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_guide_star

Click on my name for the (atmospheric) mesosphere’s wiki-page which includes a to-scale graphic of the Earth’s atmosphere showing where it is in relation to outer space commonly though to start with the final layer of earth’s atmosphere the exosphere at around 600 km high.

However, I’m not sure if any of the lasers light escapes that mesospheric altitude. Be interesting to see if any of the astronauts from the International Space Station could spot it! Or, for that matter, any observers on the ground – and for how far distant from it if so. Apparently the artificial star is :

about 20 times fainter than the faintest star that can be seen with the unaided eye,

However, the beam itself apparently *is* visible as this observes :

The colour of the laser beam on the first image actually looks pretty close to what one can see on the sky with the unaided eye.”

Source : ‘Photos of the VLT’s Laser Guide Star: “The Planet, the Galaxy and the Laser” (See : http://www.adaptiveoptics.org/News_0807_1.html ) .

(That link found via this comment (# 16.) by Mike Oliver :

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/09/07/beam-me-up/#comment-301860

on the linked ‘Beam Me Up’ BA blog thread.)

So, from that, it sounds like you can see the laser beam but not the artificial guide star itself.

Anyone else able to answer that question any better and clarify this some more, please?

*****

“Space isn’t remote at all. Its only an hour away if your car could go straight upwards.”
- Page 43, Sir Fred Hoyle, ‘The Wonderful World of Space’, Heather Couper, Octopus Books, 1980.

Try :

http://nightskyonline.info/?p=2886

which hopefully helps. Scroll down there for a set of findercharts – Comet Lovejoy is moving quickly and was today above Scorpius roughly in line with the stars of Zeta Scorpii.

@10. PhilippeC :

Could some life form cruising by see this laser beam pointed at them?

You mean like humans and birds? Sure.

How far does the light emitted by the laser can be detected? Is it entirely absorbed by the atmosphere before it can get to ‘space’?</i.

This ESO webpage :

http://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/technology/adaptive_optics.html

found via the BA’s link in the article here notes :

astronomers can create artificial stars instead by shining a powerful laser beam into the Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Unfortunately they don’t provide specifics onhow high and their FAQ doesn’t seem to answer it either. You can ask them directly via their site.

Aha! See :

http://www.adaptiveoptics.org/News_0607_1.html

Which notes :

The laser beam takes advantage of the layer of sodium atoms that is present in Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of 90 kilometres. Shining at a well-defined wavelength the laser makes it glow. The laser is launched from Yepun, the fourth 8.2-m Unit Telescope of the Very Large Telescope, producing an artificial star. Despite this star being about 20 times fainter than the faintest star that can be seen with the unaided eye, it is bright enough for the adaptive optics to measure and correct the atmosphere’s blurring effect. Compared to a normal star, this artificial star has some differing properties that the associated Laser Guide Star (LGS) Adaptive Optics (AO) system has to be able to cope with.

Which hopefullyanswers most of your question there. ET seeing it would depend on how close they got tothe observatory I guess!

How far does the light emitted by the laser can be detected? Is it entirely absorbed by the atmosphere before it can get to ‘space’?