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Comet C/2011 L4 Panstarrs - Heads Up

Double Kick Drum

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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If the skies clear then I will be making the 40 mile trip to the end of the Gower Penisula Tuesday or Wednesday both lookign ok at the moment... might head for the top of the mountain opposite tonight to see if I can see anything along the Loughor Estuary...

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greglloyd

greglloyd

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I spotted it today. See my report here :-

It's a difficult target for us in the UK right now and not very impressive at all to see either. I suspect it's just going to be a binocular object really. Should be nice enough in binos in a few days time as it climbs into darker skies.

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greglloyd

greglloyd

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Got a good view of the western horizon, but the glare is simply too bright until app. 7.15 which is too late - will be 3° left of the moon tomorrow but that's a 22-hour moon and I doubt it will be much help... :sad:

I can tell you that today, the window of opportunity (from my location in NI) was 7pm to 7:10pm. It appeared to brighten from 7pm to 7:05 and then sank too low and became very very faint. When I left for home it was only 1.5 deg above the horizon! The comet was roughly due west.

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Astroscot2

Astroscot2

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Like some of you I had ago at locating Panstarrs at sundown last night . I climbed up to a 300m top not far from where I live at sunset, My god it was cold, that wind cut me in two. anyway the weather was perfect with clear transparent skies all the way to the horizon, I scanned with binoculars from 18:15 to 19:30 and nothing. It was just far too light , even at 19:30 exposures longer than 1 second were washed out.

It would be nice to have caught the comet so early however im going to wait until it rises a bit higher in the sky before trying again as I doubt even at +1 Mag it wont be that impresive low down.

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greglloyd

greglloyd

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Like some of you I had ago at locating Panstarrs at sundown last night . I climbed up to a 300m top not far from where I live at sunset, My god it was cold, that wind cut me in two. anyway the weather was perfect with clear transparent skies all the way to the horizon, I scanned with binoculars from 18:15 to 19:30 and nothing. It was just far too light , even at 19:30 exposures longer than 1 second were washed out.

It would be nice to have caught the comet so early however im going to wait until it rises a bit higher in the sky before trying again as I doubt even at +1 Mag it wont be that impresive low down.

For reference, the comet was well within the orange glow at the horizon. I never saw it against a blue / dark background. In fact, the binos view was very similar to the photo posted earlier in this thread. It'll be a little higher tonight, but I would still aim to find it within the glow. You need to look right down on the horizon after 7pm. Last night it was very low indeed (from NI)

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voivod

voivod

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Just saw the comet :grin: After 2 failed attempts I finally found it on the third night.

Wasn't bright and was really difficult to pick out at first, but I did follow it for about half an hour before losing it low down in the haze. Couldn't see it at all with the naked eye but was a nice sight in my 10x50 binos once the sky darkened a bit.

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andrew63

andrew63

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Just saw the comet :grin: After 2 failed attempts I finally found it on the third night.

Wasn't bright and was really difficult to pick out at first, but I did follow it for about half an hour before losing it low down in the haze. Couldn't see it at all with the naked eye but was a nice sight in my 10x50 binos once the sky darkened a bit.

It's always a great thrill to see a comet - great stuff!

andrew

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Helen

Helen

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I saw it too :-) We were on top of Caerphilly mountain and after failing to see it for about 20 minutes despite finding the moon, finally spotted it. It was particularly bright, but the tail was clear. There were a few people up there so my 15x70 binos got passed to 6 different people who all got to see it too. Unfortunately Jean had decided she was getting too cold, and by the time she made it back up it I'd lost the reference point of the moon and it was low in the murk. We will try again tomorrow. We did both enjoy seeing the really thin crescent moon though, the newest moon either of us has ever seen. So a good night - worth braving the freezing cold and howling gale for!!

Helen

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Double Kick Drum

Double Kick Drum

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I saw it too :-) We were on top of Caerphilly mountain and after failing to see it for about 20 minutes despite finding the moon, finally spotted it. It was particularly bright, but the tail was clear. There were a few people up there so my 15x70 binos got passed to 6 different people who all got to see it too. Unfortunately Jean had decided she was getting too cold, and by the time she made it back up it I'd lost the reference point of the moon and it was low in the murk. We will try again tomorrow. We did both enjoy seeing the really thin crescent moon though, the newest moon either of us has ever seen. So a good night - worth braving the freezing cold and howling gale for!!

Helen

Congratulations!

Only cloud this side of the UK.

Clearer forecasts tomorrow and Thursday. The comet position will be marginally more favourable by then.

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pgwenlan

pgwenlan

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I saw it too :-) We were on top of Caerphilly mountain and after failing to see it for about 20 minutes despite finding the moon, finally spotted it. It was particularly bright, but the tail was clear. There were a few people up there so my 15x70 binos got passed to 6 different people who all got to see it too. Unfortunately Jean had decided she was getting too cold, and by the time she made it back up it I'd lost the reference point of the moon and it was low in the murk. We will try again tomorrow. We did both enjoy seeing the really thin crescent moon though, the newest moon either of us has ever seen. So a good night - worth braving the freezing cold and howling gale for!!

We were up on Eglwysilan Common above Senghenydd, so not far from you - but just as cold!! And the moon was wonderful, wasn't it!

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Helen

Helen

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We were up on Eglwysilan Common above Senghenydd, so not far from you - but just as cold!! And the moon was wonderful, wasn't it!

Yes, the changing colours of the delicate sliver of the moon were worth the trip alone. I did wonder whether Eglwysilan might have a better westerrn horizon, but it was OK where we were. Did you see the comet too?

Helen

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pgwenlan

pgwenlan

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Yes, the changing colours of the delicate sliver of the moon were worth the trip alone. I did wonder whether Eglwysilan might have a better westerrn horizon, but it was OK where we were. Did you see the comet too?

Helen

Yes!! Not naked-eye, but with Bins & camera:

post-17980-0-10783000-1363126802_thumb.j

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