PANSTARRS visibility?

[E621Keith]

I haven't observe one of these 'great' comets before, but my experience with faint diffuse objects tells me the tail will be very hard to see, especially in light polluted sky. Every comets I have observed have been fuzz balls in telescopes and none showed sign of a tail. When I was a kid, my non-astronomer parents took me and my brother out too see Comet Hyakutake. Despite the media hype back then, we didn't see any sign of it.

So when I see this news article about the comet 'lighting sky', I have my reservation and wonder if it is just the usual media over exaggeration?

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

I guess PANSTARRS will be much brighter than Gerrad or LINEAR, and the core may reach naked eye visibility, but will it be possible to see the tail without optical aid?

Am I being pessimistic?

[LukeSkywatcher]

By all guesstimates PANSTARRS, promises to be a very good naked eye comet (with a tail) in the western sky low down just after sunset. So to really see it you will need a good clear view towards the west.

The view from my house westwards is zero, so i have already picked out a location about 5 mins drive from me that should be suitable.

I'm hoping its as good as Hale-Bopp (to the naked eye)....................but not holding my breath.

This is an image of PANSTARRS from Argentina:

http://www.space.com...-night-sky.html

Looks promising. I'm excited about this comet and will do my best to observe it.

[jonathan]

So far the visibility for me has been cancelled due to cloud, rain, sleet, and perhaps snow in the coming week if the weather forecast can even get that right. Sorry that doesn't help much.

[badgerchap]

I saw Hale-Bopp in '97 and the tail was certainly visible.

Couldn't see anything at all of PANSTARRS tonight on the West Wales coast :/ Still too low to be seen through the thick atmosphere I think.

[gkec]

According to the comet news group the current magnitude is about +1. There won't be much of a tail to start with because it's "blowing head on" however this will change as the comet moves away from the Sun.

It doesn't seem that it is going to be a "great comet" but it should be visible.

One interesting point is that the comet shows up well on images using yellow filters, probably due to sodium emissions. So don't use light pollution filters!

Hyakutake was clearly visible from the road outside my house in the suburbs of a city. I took a photo by sticking my SLR on tripod in the middle of the street.

[E621Keith]

Thanks everyone. If the core is +1, I should have a good chance of seeing the tail with a bino.

It sounds like this won't be a disappointment. Now, lets hope the weather clears.

[yesteryeargames]

Rain and snow and cloud all week , this is going to be a frustrating few weeks

[Knight of Clear Skies]

"Lighting the sky" is indeed an exaggeration. The article itself isn't bad, but the headline is very misleading. My best guess at the moment is that it will need at least binoculars to get a proper look at it, and it will be a fantastic astro-photography target. With the naked eye, I wouldn't expect to see much against the glare of the setting sun. It's predicted to reach mag -1 or -2, which is fairly bright in absolute terms. However, it has a low surface brightness - that light is spread out over a wide area.

[ronin]

So far solid cloud, rain, snow and fog.

Suspect it really could last until after the comet has disappeared.

Also houses and the rest of the town are to the West of me so going to have to find somewhere else to take a look from, assuming it actually gets clear at some time, preferably before the clocks change and the nights are too light to see it.

[ScottT]

Well, it will be viewable well into april, it will just be fainter

[Torin]

Drifting snow here... and rather cold at -5C

I think I'll stick to Stellarium tonight!

[steveb1977]

Snow has fnaly stopped and the forecast doesn't look too bad for later so will try then. No doubt this is a bright comet but makes you realise how bright Hale-Bopp was in 97. No need for searching with binoculars for that one, just glance up and it couldn't be missed!

[yesteryeargames]

Hale bopp was the most amazing thing I have ever viewed in space , not seen a comet since really am hoping I get a look at this one . Clouds will last until April no doubt :S.

[fredster]

Lets hope ISON lives up to expectations, it could be a comet to finally make us stop referring back to Hale Bopp for the last great comet. That said, i preferred Hyakutake. Fantastic comet.

[NotSoSuperNova]

So far solid cloud, rain, snow and fog.

Suspect it really could last until after the comet has disappeared.

Also houses and the rest of the town are to the West of me so going to have to find somewhere else to take a look from, assuming it actually gets clear at some time, preferably before the clocks change and the nights are too light to see it.

I'm starting to have serious reservations about the cloud clearing in time to see this myself. A real shame but I suppose there's always next time...

[Double Kick Drum]

I'm starting to have serious reservations about the cloud clearing in time to see this myself. A real shame but I suppose there's always next time...

We may be denied a naked eye view of the comet but a pair of binoculars will show it for quite some period of time. It is expected to be at approximately magnitude 5 when it brushes past M31 in Andromeda in early April.

I think that view will be just as satisfying as bagging it with the mark one eyeball.

As it fades, it becomes circumpolar and will be visible throughout the night (given decent horizons).

[PDW]

I didn´t have any scopes when Hale Bopp appeared - hope I get to use one this time round!!

[yesteryeargames]

Same here , just naked eye on hale bopp , It was outstanding and we seemed to have a good clear spell at the time , ahh those were the days

[gkec]

Just saw PANSARRS for about a minute. It's looking really good. Bright and a clear tail.

[gkec]

It was a fairly obvious naked eye object between the clouds. Knew what it was as soon as I saw it. An orangey yellow colour with a short but spread out tail. Binos showed two tails and a fairly bright and big core. Chuffed to bits!!

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Glad someone got to see it anyway, and that it was naked-eye visible. I'll just have to keep checking the weather reports and hoping.

[Ibbo!]

It was a fairly obvious naked eye object between the clouds. Knew what it was as soon as I saw it. An orangey yellow colour with a short but spread out tail. Binos showed two tails and a fairly bright and big core. Chuffed to bits!!

so you should

any estimate of tail length naked eye and with bins?

Cheers

Steve

[gkec]

The tail was not obvious with the naked eye. With binoculars the tail length was about twice the diameter of the core. Looked very much like those medieval depictions of comets.

The sky was still fairly bright as it was only 15 minutes after sunset. A very rough guess I would say about 2-5 arc seconds if I compare it with the size of the moon (30 arc seconds). This is thinking about it afterwards as I didn't get long to observe it.

I would say that it appeared brighter than Jupiter which I observed some minutes later hoping for the clouds to clear again. It was so obvious I saw it from my office desk.

[mdstuart]

I thought I had bagged it but then tried again and could not find it. I wonder whether I saw a plane and its trail. The tail was up and to the left....Is that where the tail should be!

Mark

[allcart]

Rubbish cloud down here and freezing cold. Fingers crossed for later in the week.