Thursday, March 21, 2013

Comet PanSTARRS

I tried to see this comet last week, but it turned out I was looking too high in the sky. Since then, I've either been inside working or it's been cloudy in the evening, so I haven't had a chance to look for it again. Here's to hoping I see it before it fades. Otherwise, videos and articles like these will be how I'll remember the object. Sigh. I would rather remember it like Hale-Bopp, a vivid first-person experience.

NASA Television: ScienceCasts: Sunset Comet.
 
Comet Pan-STARRS has survived its encounter with the sun and is now emerging from twilight in the sunset skies of the northern hemisphere. A NASA spacecraft monitoring the comet has beamed back pictures of a wild and ragged tail.
NBC News: Moon pairs up with Comet PanSTARRS for big show By Alan Boyle
Two elusive superstars came out on Tuesday evening to greet their adoring fans — in L.A. and Vegas, as well as in California's Mojave Desert and the mountaintops of Arizona and California. As a matter of fact, observers around the world could catch a glimpse of Comet PanSTARRS and the barely lit crescent moon, as long as the skies were clear. Like most superstars, Comet PanSTARRS doesn't always live up to its advance billing. For months, skywatchers have been looking forward to PanSTARRS as one of the top sights in the night sky. The long-period comet is now thought to be at its brightest, due to the fact that it has just come out of its close approach to the sun. But finding it has proved more difficult than expected, because it's so easily lost in the glare of sunset.
DarkSyde on Daily Kos also covered this story in This week in science: night of the comet.

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