Comet making closest approach ever of Earth

[Steve Williams]

By MARCIA DUNN, AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A recently discovered comet is closer than it's ever been to Earth, and stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere finally get to see it.

Called Pan-STARRS, the comet passed within 100 million miles of Earth on Tuesday, its closest approach in its first-ever cruise through the inner solar system. The ice ball will get even nearer the sun this weekend — just 28 million miles from the sun and within the orbit of Mercury.

The comet has been visible for weeks from the Southern Hemisphere. Now the top half of the world gets a glimpse as well.

The best viewing days should be next Tuesday and Wednesday, when Pan-STARRS appears next to a crescent moon at dusk in the western sky. Until then, glare from the sun will obscure the comet.

California astronomer Tony Phillips said the comet's proximity to the moon will make it easier for novice sky watchers to find it. Binoculars likely will be needed for the best viewing, he said, warning onlookers to avoid pointing them at the setting sun.

"Wait until the sun is fully below the horizon to scan for the comet in the darkening twilight," Phillips advised in an email sent from his home and observatory in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Pan-STARRS' name is actually an acronym for the Hawaiian telescope used to spot it two years ago: the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System. The volcano-top telescope is on constant prowl for dangerous asteroids and comets that might be headed our way.

Thought to be billions of years old, the comet originated in the distant Oort cloud — a cloud of icy bodies well beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto — and somehow got propelled toward the inner solar system. It's never passed by Earth before, Phillips said.

A much brighter comet show, meanwhile, is on the way.

Comet ISON may come close to outshining the moon in November. It was discovered last September by Russian astronomers and got its acronym name from the International Scientific Optical Network.

Neither Pan-STARRS nor ISON pose a threat to Earth, according to scientists.

 

[Steve Williams]

Once-in-a-Lifetime View of Comet Pan-STARRS

By Tony Amormino, Meteorologist

The best chance to see something truly once-in-a-lifetime occurs this weekend.

The Comet Pan-STARRS continues its trek through outer space and will be visible to the naked eye. You will be need an unobstructed view to the southwest at twilight to view the comet.

While Comet Pan-STARRS will be visible for nearly the entire month of March. The comet is at its brightest March 10 as it passes just 28 million miles away from the sun.

The comet will begin to dim after March 10.

Comet Pan-STARRS is known as a sungrazer because it will make an extremely close trip around the sun.

The earth and the comet were at its closest March 5. Due to a cloud filled sky in north central West Virginia, the comet was not visible.

Comet Pan-STARRS was discovered by a group of astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) telescope in Hawaii.

The Comet Pan-STARRS has an orbital period of roughly 106,000 years.

In case you miss the Comet Pan-STARRS, the next sungrazing comet will occur in November. The Comet ISON will makes its way through the night sky.

 

[Steve Williams]

Comet Pan-STARRS Near the Moon Tonight: How to See It...

By Joe Rao | SPACE.com

Many stargazers attempting to view the Comet Pan-STARRS on recent nights have been thwarted by the comet's low position in the western sky. But tonight (March 12), the thin crescent moon will lend a hand.
Over the past weekend countless observers across in North America and Europe tried — and for the most part failed — to see Comet Pan-STARRS, in part due to its low altitude above the west-northwest horizon. The bright glare of the evening twilight sky just is also a hurdle, since it can as make the comet harder to see just after sunset.
But fret not, comet lovers! Weather permitting, observing conditions will improve by this evening, since Comet Pan-STARR's position above the horizon will be noticeably higher and the moon can be used as a benchmark to point your way.
Clear western view essential
The best suggestion I can make is for your Tuesday night comet watch is to first find an observing site with the least amount of any obstructions in the direction of the western part of the sky.
If you end up successfully catching a glimpse of them, the moon and the comet will not be any higher than 10 degrees above the horizon. That is about the size of your clenched held out at arm's length.
If you have a house or some trees in your line of sight, then you're going to have to find some other viewing site.

Step 1: Find the moon
In order to boost your chances of seeing Comet Pan-STARRS, be sure to arrive at your viewing site in time to see the sunset. Take note of where on the horizon the sun sets.
Now wait about 30 minutes as the sky slowly begins to darken. Truthfully, it will still be rather bright looking toward the west a half hour after the sunset … this was one of the main problems people have had in recent days in trying to see the comet.
However, first things first: Let's locate the moon. Take your clenched fist and measure off 10 degrees up from that point on the horizon where the sun disappeared about a half hour before. Now look a bit to the right from the top of your fist. That's where the crescent moon will be.
Seeing the moon will be a bit of a challenge in itself because it will be very narrow, appearing only about 28 hours after passing its new phase. Because of this, the lunar disk will be only 1-percent illuminated. It will be oriented with its bright sliver down, resembling a cup or a thin smile on the sky.
If you can't see the moon with your unaided eye, then use binoculars. Once you pick it up with binoculars you should be able to find it without optical aid.

Finding Comet Pan-STARRS
With the moon found in the evening sky, it is time to use it as a guide to spot Comet Pan-STARRS.
The comet will be located about 5 degrees to the left of the moon. Once again, you might not initially see it with your eyes, so use binoculars if you need to. Five degrees measures roughly "half a fist" in length.
You'll know Comet Pan-STARRS when you see it. It will appear as a bright, star-like "head" with a short, stubby tail extending from the head upwards and slightly to the left from the bright end. Like the moon, once you find it with binoculars, you should, with time, be able to make it out against the bright twilight sky.
Comet Pan-STARRS and the moon should be visible for about a half hour before they disappear into the murky haze always located near the horizon.

Not so 'Great Comet'?
Comet Pan-STARRS was discovered in June 2011 by a team of astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (or PAN-STARRS), a telescope in Hawaii. The comet is officially designated as C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) and is thought to take more than 100 million years to make a single orbit around the sun.
Right now the brightness of Comet Pan-STARRS, according to viewers who spotted it in the Southern Hemisphere, ranks at about first-magnitude on the astronomy brightness scale. That is about as bright as the brightest stars.
Normally, a comet as bright as this would be categorized as a "Great Comet ", but most observers feel that Pan-STARRS does not fall into this category because it's not visible against a fully dark sky. The bright twilight background is working against making it a prominent eye-catching sight.
And the comet's dust tail is not breathtakingly long, but rather, short and rather stubby. To the naked eye, not much of the may be visible at all, though in big binoculars or small telescopes, some say that Pan-STARRS is a rather impressive sight.
Comet Pan-STARRS is one of at least three comets in the night sky currently thrilling stargazers. Another comet (the Comet Lemmon) is currently visible to observers in Southern Hemisphere, while the third object is Comet ISON.
Comet ISON is a promising celestial object that was discovered by amateur astronomers in 2012 and is expected to make its closest approach to the sun in late November. The comet will be only 800,000 miles (1.2 million km)from the sun at its closest point, and could put on a dazzling night sky spectacle. But it could also fizzle out, NASA scientists have said.
NASA astronomers and stargazers around the world are regularly tracking Comet ISON, as well as comets Pan-STARRS and Lemmon as they shine in the night sky.

 

[treitz3]

Anybody gonna try to take any photos of this tonight?

Tom