Comet C/2011 L4 Panstarrs - Heads Up

[Kbramley]

This is a crop of my best pic so far, just before it dipped into the clouds not to be seen again tonight.

Canon 450D with Sigma 70-300mm at 300mm F/6.3, 4 Sec, ISO 400

Was a superb sight through 15x70 bins I must admit, but couldnt see it naked eye.

Enjoy

[Telescope40]

Got It !! Nice clear horizon over Mancland. Not naked eye but Binos not an issue. Looks like I got a picture too but too poor to be added to this post LOL. Chuffed !! John 1 Comet nil.

First one ever !!!

[Helen]

I saw it again tonight Last night I was freezing on top of a windswept hill and did manage to pick it out. I'd planned a trip to a closer hill tonight, but didn't manage to get there as my brother and niece came to see me (its my birthday) at the time I was planning to go out (but it was fun seeing them). As they were leaving I noticed I could see the moon from my street and so a quick trip up to the end of the street with the binos and bingo... the comet was neatly between the houses. I couldn't believe it - so much easier and less exposed than what I had planned :-) I agree with everyone, it was much clearer tonight with an obvious shape against the darker sky. Hopefully we'll get to see it for a few nights to come

Helen

[The Beast]

Second time lucky. Was really lucky with the clouds on Dartmoor. They stayed low and I had a great view of the sunset. Not the warm up for ISON I was hoping for, but it feels good to have caught it. Viewed it through binos and a small scope. I felt the bino view was the best. Don't know if it was some sort of exit pupil issue or what, but I didn't feel it took magnification very well.

[The Beast]

This was handheld through the eyepiece! Not a great shot but gives the idea.

[yesteryeargames]

what time exactly did you manage to find it and image it ?

[yesteryeargames]

I was really despondent about seeing it tonight. Although the Met Office predicted clear sky over Bristol the cloud was still thick at 16:00 but I'd arranged to meet up with my mate up a hill with some beers and our equipment so thought what the heck. Soooo pleased as the cloud cleared and we got our prize It was nice that quite a few people walked by and asked what we were there for and seemed really interested. Felt great

Here's my humble pic.

I am confused about the horizon bit, i think i have been looking far too low ,

the horizion is just above the orange glow ? where panstarss is ot lower ?

[The Beast]

Hi yesteryeargames, if you're talking to me, I don't exactly recall when I picked it up. I think sunset was about 6.15. I think it might have been about 7 before I picked it up, but that is not an exact time. The photo above was taken at 7.15, just through the eyepiece of my scope with a (good) point and shoot. It must have dipped into clouds not long after I took that shot and would have set not long after that. As you can see I had quite a long frustrating wait for the sky to darken enough to pick it out. It's also frustrating that once you've found it you can't help thinking you must have been able to catch it earlier.

I'm guessing you want to know these times to guide future efforts to find it, but these times won't hold. Panstarrs is moving further from the sun so it will be moving into bits of the sky that darken sooner after sunset. Offsetting that I believe it will also be fading a bit, but then again it will be above the horizon for longer after sunset, so we will be seeing it against much darker skies before it sets. The best thing to do is to is to load Panstarrs into Stellarium and use that to work out how long you have before it sets (and where to look). I didn't consult Stellarium before I headed out, and I'm sure it took me longer to find the comet as a result because I didn't know where exactly to focus my efforts.

[Kevin Scott Koepke]

Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4); 3/13/2013 by kevin scott koepke photography, on Flickr

[Moonshane]

the prime time seems to be about 7pm-7.30pm in the UK currently. last night it was a binocular diameter (approx) above the horizon at this time. the tail and core form an arrow which points at the sun. watch where the sun goes down and after it sets, (and at about 7pm) follow the path of the sun back and you will see the comet. if you have the comet in the field of even a small pair of bins at 7pm you won't miss it. I just scanned the horizon around west and worked my way up gradually and found it.

[andrew63]

I am confused about the horizon bit, i think i have been looking far too low ,

the horizion is just above the orange glow ? where panstarss is ot lower ?

If you saw the thin moon - it was about 7 degrees to the lower right last night - when i saw it about 6.45 it was an easy sight in binoculars even though the sky was fairly bright and pretty much due west.

andrew

[Scubapauly]

Finally got my shot last night in the desert of Oman

[celtic67]

I think I saw it last night, but it was at about 8:30 and heading towards the Perseus and Andromeda constellations.............I'm not sure if I saw it about an hour later heading in the opposite direction towards Auriga. I don't know......perhaps it was the cold affecting my concentration......it was freezing out there , but lovely and clear .......whatever it was it was cool.

[Photosbykev]

I think I saw it last night, but it was at about 8:30 and heading towards the Perseus and Andromeda constellations.............I'm not sure if I saw it about an hour later heading in the opposite direction towards Auriga. I don't know......perhaps it was the cold affecting my concentration......it was freezing out there , but lovely and clear .......whatever it was it was cool.

it was below the horizon by 19:30 in the uk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Blame Apple for the typos and me for the content

[theclearskiesofthemoon]

it was below the horizon by 19:30 in the uk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Blame Apple for the typos and me for the content

If you have a clear sight of the horizon it sets just after 20:00.

[Moonshane]

I think I saw it last night, but it was at about 8:30 and heading towards the Perseus and Andromeda constellations.............I'm not sure if I saw it about an hour later heading in the opposite direction towards Auriga. I don't know......perhaps it was the cold affecting my concentration......it was freezing out there , but lovely and clear .......whatever it was it was cool.

to the naked eye anyway most comets don't move perceptibly over an hour or so against the background stars and it will take several months for this comet to be near Ursa Major by which time it will be very dim.

[Jaffa007]

Finally got my shot last night in the desert of Oman

A really beautifull shot!!

[BlinneOrlaith]

Ahhh, this is not going to be as easy as I thought. I haven't read through the whole thread, I took this pic last night while at work (This is just outside Belfast) at around 7:30. (Also using Stellarium)

The problem is how low Panstarrs is in the sky, I believe its not going to be easy to see it, but then I was looking without binoculars, so that wasn't gonna get me much results Sky was still quite blue as you can see. I will have to look more into it

[Jaffa007]

Mate, it should get easier to see, with Bino's for best views, as the week goes on. Start looking from 7pm onwards as it gets darker. It was low last night.

[Photosbykev]

If you have a clear sight of the horizon it sets just after 20:00.

very ambitious to see it on the horizon through our murky atmosphere.

This was at 19:13 last night from Hereford

easily visible in 10x42 binos but only just naked eye visible with adverted vision

[Pete Presland]

thats an absolute beauty kev! simply a great image!

[greglloyd]

As I mentioned in one of the threads the other night, the actual best time for you to view the comet is specific to your location.

Someone in London for example is going to see it set perhaps up to 30 mins earlier than someone in Lands End. The further west you are the later it is going to firstly going to become visible as darkness will arrive later, and secondly you also have to factor in how far north you are - which is also going to make a difference to how quickly it gets darks when the sun goes down. Somewhere like Shannon in the west of Ireland probably sees the comet set around 1 hour later than say the far east of Kent.

For my location, the viewing has been (i.e. Time it got dark enough to spot until the time it got too low to be worth viewing any more) :-

Monday: 19:00 - 19:10

Tues: 19:00 - 19:40

Wed: 18:40 - 19:45 <--- This one helped quite a bit by the presence of the moon and the fact the comet was in a dark blue sky for the first time

As you can see the window of opportunity has greatly increased (particularly on Wednesday). As the comet has climb higher into the sky the amount of time you get to view it has increased quite a bit.

My times above may not be relevant for other locations further south and east though

[trev27]

Paul and Kev those are fantastic shots!!!

Finally got to see it from Galway last night. Very very faint in the twillight. Got a couple of shots off on the dslr but missed the chance to shoot through the scope due to those clouds. It was mostly visible between 19:30 and 19:50 or so from this location.

Trev

[Stevie P]

Just got a peek tonight between the moon and the clouds, through bins... A little chuffed

[JamesF]

Denied again this evening -- to much cloud low on the horizon despite an otherwise clear sky

James