INCOMING COMET PanSTARRS - closest to Earth on 2013 March 5th

INCOMING COMET: In little more than a month, Comet PanSTARRS will cross the orbit of Mercury and probably brighten to naked-eye visibility as it absorbs the heat of the nearby sun. Sky watchers around the world will be looking for it in the sunset skies of early March, when it passes closest to the sun and to Earth. Until then a telescope is required; here is the view last night through a 0.3-meter-diameter reflector in Argentina: A team of astronomers led by Martin Masek took the picture using the remotely-controlled F(/Ph)otometric Robotic Atmospheric Monitor--"FRAM" for short. "The stars are trailed in this 9x120s exposure, which tracked the comet," explains Masel.

Currently, the comet ranks about 8th magnitude, dimmer than the human eye can see, but it could brighten 100-fold on March 10th when it makes its closest approach to the sun (0.3 AU). The latest curves suggest that PanSTARRS will emerge glowing about as brightly as a 3rd magnitude star, similar to the stars in the Big Dipper.

There might, however, be surprises in store. Comet PanSTARRS has never been to inner solar system before. It is falling in from the Oort cloud, a great swarm of comets beyond Neptune and Pluto unaltered by the warmth of the sun. When Comet PanSTARRS dips it toe inside the orbit of Mercury for the first time, almost anything could happen ranging from an anticlimatic "bake-out" to a spectacular disruption.

COMET PAN-STARRS UPDATE: Comet Pan-STARRS, now visible in the southern hemispherre, is brightening as it plunges toward the sun, Amateur astronomer Ian Cooper sends this report from Glen Oroua, New Zealand: "Despite lingering evening twilight and the glare from a nearly full Moon, Comet Pan-STARRS is a 3rd-magnitude object with a fine orange dust tail visible in both binoculars and small telescopes." A 30-second exposure with his Canon 450D digital camera easily revealed the comet in the not-quite-dark sky: In early March, the comet will pass about 100 million miles from Earth as it briefly dips inside the orbit of Mercury. At that time it is expected to brighten another three-fold to 2nd magnitude, about as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper. Whether Pan-STARRS will actually be visible to the naked eye through the glow of the nearby sun remains to be seen; this NASA video explores the possibilities. Whatever happens, observers in the northern hemisphere will have a front row seat as the comet crosses the celestial equator on March 12th.

March 13, 2013 – SPACE - A comet visible to the naked eye will streak across the night sky in North America tonight, and if you’re lucky, you can see it for yourself. Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS is an icy ball of dirt currently located about 30 million miles from the sun. It will appear in our night skies all month long, but if you want to see it without the aid of binoculars or a telescope, tonight’s your best bet. To view the comet, first find a spot where you can see the western part of the sky, all the way down to the horizon. It will also help if you’re away from a city, so you don’t have to deal with light pollution. Clear weather is also a necessity. Wait until about half an hour after sunset, and then look towards the western sky. The crescent moon should be just barely above the horizon, and that will help you find the comet, which should appear about 10 degrees to the west of the moon –roughly the size of your fist, if you hold it out at arm’s length. According to NASA, the comet “will appear as a bright point of light with its diffuse tail pointing nearly straight up from the horizon like an exclamation point.” PANSTARRS was discovered in June 2011, and is named after the telescopic survey that first spotted it, the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, which is based atop the Haleakala volcano in Hawaii. Comets that are visible on Earth with the naked eye are relatively uncommon, usually occurring only a few times a decade. But if you miss your chance to catch this one, don’t fret; there’s another comet due later this year, and it’s predicted to be spectacular. If conditions are right, Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) may shine brighter than the full moon during the last few days of November. –Forbes

Astronomers are urging Northern Hemisphere stargazers to look out for their first sighting of a new comet. Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere are to get their first chance of seeing a new comet. The C/2011 Pan-Starrs comet has been visible in the Southern Hemisphere since early February. It was first spotted in June 2011 by the Pan-Starrs telescope in Hawaii, from which it gets its name.

A clear sky could provide a sighting tonight through a telescope or binoculars but it is likely to be at its brightest for northern skies stargazers as it moves towards the Sun on Sunday.

The comet's tail will be visible in a dark, evening sky and it should match the brightness of the North Star, Polaris, according to Astronomy Magazine.

And Nasa is excited: "Comets visible to the naked eye are a rare delicacy in the celestial smorgasbord of objects in the night-time sky," the US space agency explained.
NASA handout image of the Comet Pan-STARRS streaking above New Zealand Astronomers believe the comet came from the Oort Cloud

"Scientists estimate that the opportunity to see one of these icy dirtballs advertising their cosmic presence so brilliantly they can be seen without the aid of a telescope or binoculars happens only once every five to 10 years."

When the Pan-Starrs was first seen as a faint spot in the sky, it had been hurtling towards the Sun for millions of years.

Astronomers believe the comet came from the Oort Cloud, where it first started as an icy mass.

The Oort Cloud is a part of space judged to be one light-year away from the Sun and, astronomers believe, the source of all comets.

The comets are icy because they come from the far reaches of the Solar System - the areas farthest away from the Sun.

Astronomers say that, if this particular sighting is missed, the Pan-Starrs comet may not be within our orbit for another 100,000 years.

THE BRIGHTNESS OF COMET PAN-STARRS: Comet Pan-STARRS is receding from the sun and dimming as it goes, yet sky watchers are seeing it better than ever as it moves into darker skies. How bright is it? University of Colorado atmospheric sciences professor Richard Keen, an expert estimator of astronomical magnitudes because of his work with lunar eclipses, has the answer:

"My best estimate for the comet's brightness is magnitude +1.9, a factor of five fainter than five days earlier," he says. "However, thanks to the increasing altitude of the comet in a somewhat darker sky, it is still just as easy to see with the naked eye - actually, a bit easier, because it's no longer buried in the trees." He had no trouble finding the comet for this picture looking over the Continental Divide on March 19th: "The comet is easy to spot in the clear high-altitude skies of Colorado," Keen continues. "It appears to the unaided eye in the twilight sky as a slightly fuzzy star. Observers in more humid or hazier climates still might need binoculars to locate the comet."

"PanSTARRS will likely fade another magnitude or two over the next week as the moon brightens towards full on the night of the 26th," he predicts. "Then, on the 28th of March, the moon will rise a couple of hours after sunset, and the comet will become visible in a dark sky for the first time (for Northern observers). I expect it will still be of naked-eye brightness." http://www.spaceweather.com