Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS

bogman

Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS will be visible in the western sky close to the horizon shortly after sunset for the first time in the northern hemisphere tonight, first comet to be visible by the naked eye in more that 10 years, easily visible with binoculars, overcast here, bank of sea fog moving in down this way, another chance tomorrow's



http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/444004/20130308/comet-asteriod-sky.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21701641

Kersh

Can't wait to see this. Been looking forward to it for ages.

Akrasia

Kersh wrote: »

Can't wait to see this. Been looking forward to it for ages.

My lovely wife got me a telescope so I could see this but it was cloudy on the western horizon. I did see some nice views of Jupiter though

Rhys Essien

Next Tuesday and Wednesday are supposed to be the best viewing nights.Nice photo here of the comets Panstarrs and Lemmon taken from the Atacama Desert recently.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2290110/Newly-discovered-comet-fly-Earth-giving-stargazers-spectacular-views.html

For what its worth,I saw a comet in the eastern sky about 2/3 years ago at about 5am going to work.Think it might have been under the radar because there wasnt much mention of it.An amazing sight to see indeed.I thought I was dreaming.:D

dbran

Hi

On Wednesday 13th at sunset it will be very close to a thinly cresented (2 days old) moon low in the west. Its now supposed to be 1.5-2 mag high surface brigness and highly condensed.

dbran

Zubeneschamali

bogman wrote: »

first comet to be visible by the naked eye in more that 10 years

17P/Holmes was in 2007, clearly visible with the naked eye in Perseus.

jfSDAS

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

17P/Holmes was in 2007, clearly visible with the naked eye in Perseus.

I remember it looking like a fuzzy "star" to the unaided eye as it changed position from night to night. I could see it clearly even from Terenure village, not far from Dublin city centre.

John.

Some info below though on C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS) ...

The weather forecast for the next few days suggests clear skies after sunset and a prerequisite for seeing the comet is an unobstructed western horizon. We found a good site just outside Dublin that's part of a Coillte forest and this should give us nice views of the comet if the weather cooperates.

Some of us plan to meet at the Blue Gardenia pub/restaurant in Brittas (follow the N81 Blessington Road) at 6:15pm on Monday, March 11th and Tuesday March 12th. From there, we will head up to the observing site. I have a meeting in Templeogue until 6pm on Monday so will meet everyone at the forest entrance that day. Note: The Blue Gardenia is currently closed but we can park just outside.

The forest entrance is on the southside of Saggart Hill in an area called Slademore and full details can be found on the pdf linked to at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25805353/PDFs/Slademore.pdf

Call or send me a text on 086-8181931 if any problems finding the site.

So, what's this comet all about? Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) was discovered in 2011 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System a 1.8-m telescope in Hawaii that is used to watch for objects that might pose a danger to Earth. The comet passes closest to the Sun at a distance of 0.3 astronomical units on March 10th and is currently just a little brighter than the stars of the Plough asterism.

C/2011 L4 (PanSTARRS) is low in the evening twilight this week, making observation a little challenging, but the Moon nearby on the evenings of March 12th and 13th will be a good guide to finding the comet. PanSTARRS gets higher in the sky as the month progresses but will fade after perihelion.

More details on ...

http://www.astro-sharp.com/2013/03/01/how-to-see-comet-panstarrs/

http://star.arm.ac.uk/press/2013/panstarrs.html

http://transientsky.wordpress.com/category/comets/

http://earthsky.org/space/comet-panstarrs-possibly-visible-to-eye-in-march-2013

http://www.universetoday.com/100589/a-guide-to-help-you-see-comet-panstarrs-at-its-brightest/

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/news/comet20130307.html

http://pan-starrs.ifa.hawaii.edu/public/

jfSDAS

Well, no luck seeing the comet last night. Four of us met at Slademore but cloud stubbornly refused to budge from the western horizon where the comet was. Will try again tonight to look for the comet when the Moon will be on the scene too.

Meeting at 6:30pm at the Coillte forest car park in Slademore tonight (see map to the site in my post just above)

Looking at www.irishastronomy.org PanSTARRS was a wash-out for everyone else countrywide too.

John

Zubeneschamali

I had a relatively clear horizon, but couldn't see the comet...

Kersh

I just didn't get a decent enough gap in clouds. I'll try again later.

ednwireland

crystal clear with view of the westerly horizon - just forgot to look !

muckish

Welcome to Donegal PanStarrs.
Finally got a glimpse of PanStarrs (honestly I didn't realise I had captured her until I looked at the images on the Laptop when I got home.)
Lighting conditions are very tricky and it was a race against time before she dipped along with the moon behind the bank of Horizon hugging clouds.


1 second exposure @ f4.0 ISO800 EOS7D and 70-200mmf4L @98mm

jfSDAS

Well done on catching the comet! We didn't have any luck last night outside Dublin but did spot the Moon peeking from behind cloud on occasion -- it was a really dramatic sight to see the slender lunar crescent less than 1 day old.

John

ZeRoY

A very nice shot along with the moon, well done, seen this one online:

http://spaceweather.com/gallery/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=77693



A cool video also:

http://vimeo.com/61692212

BEASTERLY

Clear view here but can't spot it at all? Is it due to get brighter?

shedweller

BEASTERLY wrote: »

Clear view here but can't spot it at all? Is it due to get brighter?

I had a look around for specific information but found none. But, i found this here:http://www.spaceweather.com/

Because of the sunset glow, Comet Pan-STARRS remains at the lower limit of naked-eye visibility. A small number of observers have reported seeing the comet with averted vision but, for the most part, binoculars are required. The situation will improve in the nights ahead as Comet Pan-STARRS moves away from the sun into darker skies. Later this week it might be possible to walk outside after nightfall, look west, and see the comet with the unaided eye.

Novaman

I had a great night also with clear skies, the Comet could not be seen naked eye, but with binoculars it was very easy. Great sight with the Moon also. I think it was smaller that I had hoped with a short tail pointing in the 10 o'clock position. I would agree that it was about magnitude 2.

I got some shots too...

Our Moon & the Comet
www.flickr.com/photos/79652716@N00/8554821583/in/photostream/

Comet Panstarrs close up
www.flickr.com/photos/79652716@N00/8554821563/in/photostream

NM

coylemj

South Dublin: Found the western sky was too bright at 7 p.m., could just about make out the rim of the dark side of the moon in binos but couldn't find the comet, might have been a bit of haze below the moon to blame as well. Got distracted with the wait for the new pope to appear and dark clouds had obstructed the western horizon by the time I went out again at 7:20.

Can people giving sighting reports please say where you were located - e.g. Novaman above?

jfSDAS

I managed to see the comet last night too from Dunsink Observatory. There was a public Open Night on but the comet was gone from view by the time everyone arrived at 8pm. I spotted the comet at 7:10pm once some low cloud cleared out of the way. PanSTARRS was a lovely sight in the 15x70mm binoculars with its tail clearly visible. The seeing was quite good later on and Jupiter was very dramatic in the 12" Grubb refractor at 100x.

John

xserty

Hi jfSDAS,
thank you for the valuable information, in particular the directions for a very good viewing spot. I went there with my little daughter, but stayed at the entrance of the forest (didn't bother walking on the other side of it, as we had a clear sky even from there).
There I met Michael and another gentleman I forget his name. Both were very kind and helped me find PanSTARRS of which I managed to get a few shot with my camera!
Decided to share since I used info in this thread...
Regards,
Stephen

murphyme2010

xserty wrote: »

Hi jfSDAS,
thank you for the valuable information, in particular the directions for a very good viewing spot. I went there with my little daughter, but stayed at the entrance of the forest (didn't bother walking on the other side of it, as we had a clear sky even from there).
There I met Michael and another gentleman I forget his name. Both were very kind and helped me find PanSTARRS of which I managed to get a few shot with my camera!
Decided to share since I used info in this thread...
Regards,
Stephen

Hi Stephen,

Glad you enjoyed yourself and that you got to see the comet.

Michael.

Thargor

Stupid mountains in the way around Bray I think, really wanted to see this. Is it very close to the horizon still?

coylemj

Thargor wrote: »

Stupid mountains in the way around Bray I think, really wanted to see this. Is it very close to the horizon still?

It's rising higher in the sky every evening but rapidly getting fainter. Will be 11 degrees above the horizon over Dublin this evening at 19:00, exactly due west.

Gaspode

Caught a glimpse of it this evening for the first time, quite faint even with binoculars. Certainly not visible to the naked eye, but then again there was a fair amount of low cloud getting in the way now & then.

lolie

Went out this eve after the sky clear to look for it for the first time.
Once i found it with the binoc's it was easily seen with the naked eye after 7.30pm.
Interesting.

shedweller

Saw it last night with the binos. As much as i tried i could not see it with the naked eye. Lovely sight but i simply could not get the kids to come out to look at it.:(
I remember Hyakutake and how much i loved photographing it. Too busy this time though.

nanook5

I had a go at taking a few pics of it tonight (1200 to be precise )

This one was by far the best of them all .

Took at around 7:30 - 7:35

Canon 1D MKii with Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L Lens @ 200mm f/2.8 ISO 800 0.6"

Slightly tweaked in Light room And PS


Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS by Reece Gavin, on Flickr

ZeRoY

nanook5 wrote: »

I had a go at taking a few pics of it tonight (1200 to be precise )

This one was by far the best of them all .

Took at around 7:30 - 7:35

Canon 1D MKii with Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L Lens @ 200mm f/2.8 ISO 800 0.6"

Slightly tweaked in Light room And PS

Super shot!

nanook5

Thanks

Thargor

Perfect shot alright thanks, Im guessing it never looked that way to the naked eye at any point even in the Southern Hemisphere though or did it?

Rhys Essien

@nanook5 Great snap.Id be selling that to the papers if I were you.

I went outside myself tonight with the camera and it was too cloudy yet again.Feckin mad I am.

This is to give people an idea of where to look.