Updates on Comet PanSTARRS [1]

Skyandtelescope.com,3/14/13, Alan MacRobert

Greg Mort in Ashton, Maryland, was one of many who caught the comet and Moon on the evening of March 12th. He used a 100-mm lens and 2.5-second exposure.

March 14: A little star with a dim tail. Many, many people saw it last evening, aided by the crescent Moon, but many others failed. S&T's Tony Flanders writes: "I caught it from the balcony of my mother's apartment at 7:55, 54 minutes after sunset [at latitude 41° N]. I'm sure I would have spotted it much, much earlier except that I had been looking too high, too far left, and for a very different kind of object.

"I'm sure this comet will never be obvious to the unaided eye from our latitude, much less spectacular. But it sure is a beauty through my 10x30 image-stabilized binoculars. I was looking for something larger and more diffuse; in fact, it's tiny and intensely bright, with a nearly stellar head (at 10x) and a short, very bright tail."

For more information and great pictures please see Skyandtelescope.com [2]