Adding Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) data to TheSky6

Now that comet Lovejoy is visible in the northern hemisphere I want to take a stab at imaging it with my longer focal length scope but knew finding it without the aid of my planetarium software would be difficult. So I added it's Ephemeris data to thesky6 software. Below are intructions on how I did it along with the "txt" file need to add the data to thesky6 programe.

ISSUE

You want to obtain the most recent orbital element data for comets, minor planets (asteroids) or satellites.

RESOLUTION

Comets

To download the orbital element data for a particular comet (not listed in the Observable list)

1. Visit the Ephemerides and Orbital Elements Web Site, click on Comets, and then search this page for the name of the comet you're after. 

2. Click on the "forms suitable for loading into a number of popular planetarium-type software programs" link, or use link provided below marked comet lovjoy txt file

3. From your browser, click Edit | Select All, then click Edit | Copy to copy this information to the Windows Clipboard.

4. From any ASCII text editor (such as Notepad), click Edit | Paste.

5. Click Edit | Save As, and then navigate to the <My Documents>\TheSky6\Comets folder. In the File Name text box, enter "My Comets" (or any name) and then click Save.

6. From TheSky6, click Data | Comets and Minor Planets. Click Import, then select the file from step 5, and then click Open.

7. Select the desired comet from the list, and then click OK.

Photo: Albert Barr