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Comet C/2012 K1 PanSTARRS


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May's Sky & Telescope magazine has an article about a new Comet PanSTARRS, which is due to pass just to the south of the Big Dipper from tomorrow and through May. On April 30th it will be really close to Alkaid and on May 3rd it will be north of M51.

I'm very excited about this as I have never really observed a comet before and I think even I should be able to locate this heavenly body! PLEASE let the weather be good :-O

But my question is what should I be looking for? Will it just be like a faint (around mag 7/8) star, or could I actually see a cometary tail? Also, what kind of magnification might be optimum?

I obviously haven't been paying attention... I've missed any other reference to C/2012 L4 apart from the S&T article.

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There are a few threads on this forum about this comet. I've managed to see it 3 times so far. It's quite small and faint though so takes a bit of finding. Use a low magnification to pick the comet up and then a bit more to show it a little more clearly.

It currently looks like a small hazy teardrop with a condensed center with my 12" and 4.7" scopes.

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Thanks for the quick replies. I didn't think to search the forum for information on this comet. Doh! hope the weather is good enough so I can use the 12" instead of the smaller grab and go.

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I couldn't find it visually last night in my 6", I'm not saying I didn't see it but nothing that stood out to me as 'there it is'. I then I proceeded to waste 2 and a half hours of widefield data on it due to not having focus.

I should no better, this happens every time I dust off the camera after not using it for a while.

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