Observing comet Pan-STARRS

[ollypenrice]

Our observatories don't have very low western horizons so several guests and I took portable kit up the Cold de Perty (1300M) nearby and had a good view in the twilight. An ultra thin cresent moon was the starting point for the seach but then the comet showed in a binocular sweep. Very small but with a nice fan tail pointing upwards, of course, just after sunset. Great sunset, too. Most of France is stumped by snow but it's pretty nice down here at the moment. Some thin streaks of cloud were too low to affect the comet and above that was pure blue. Lucky! We also had a go in the 70mm Pronto which was ideal for the job.

Olly

[Double Kick Drum]

Fantastic report. The closest successful viewing I have heard about to date. Hopefully I will get a crack at it in the next couple of days or so.

Thanks for sharing.

[cotterless45]

Lovely, hoping to see it through an upstairs window , as the house is in the way of the western vista of council estate roofs tinted by the setting Sun. We also get a pure scent from the nearby chippie !

Nick.

[ollypenrice]

One of our little paty got a stunning shot with both the thin cresecent and the comet in a clear blue sky with a thin streak of dark cloud running horizontally below, and then a band of blazing orange sunset and the mountainous horizon below. I hope he'll be posting it on SGL soon. It's quite something.

Typo in my original post. It was the Col de Perty, not the Cold de Perty, but it was remarkably cold up there the moment the sun set!

Olly

[alan potts]

Comet seen in the correct place from Bulgaria with tail, Nothing fantastic at the moment but it's there. Difficult to say how bright but it is maybe 1st mag.

Alan.

[alan potts]

I observed with 10.5X70 Bins the tail was about 1 degree that I could see but the seeing on this horizon was not clear there was haze but it was thinning as it set, so it could be longer. I was able to see it naked eye when it was about 4 moon widths above the hill, this is still about 3-4 degrees above the horizon but even a reasonable pair od Bins will not see through rock.

It looks as if it will be good, sadly I could not get a scope on it because of where it was was.

Alan.

[Draco61]

Just seen Comet Pan-Starrs with my 7x50 Helios Bins. Absolutely beautiful could see the tail really well, once i got my eye in even with the whispy clouds.

[steveb1977]

Yest again clouded out at the last minute!

[Lorne]

Yest again clouded out at the last minute!

You were unlucky, I managed it with binoculars from the western edge of Edinburgh just before the clouds rolled in at 7ish

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Glad you got it, Olly. I spotted it this evening with my 15x70 bins. Frank, my eldest spotted it with an old pair of 7x50 bins first, and was SOO proud he could point it out to me.

[WaveSoarer]

(duplicate deleted)

[WaveSoarer]

I managed to see the comet last night when I was walking home from work. Fortunately, I'd taken my binoculars with me and I managed to see it just before it dipped into the haze on the horizon. The footbridge over the A34 provided a good, though noisy, vantage point.

[Special K]

Been unlucky with clouds over western horizon here. Also trying to spot from upstairs window. We have velux windows in our loft conversion which is good for this kind of thing. Still no luck though!