Comet Pan-STARRS Arrives

You may have heard about a Comet Pan-STARRS gracing our evening skies. It has been visible in the southern hemisphere for a couple of weeks now and is finally moving into the northern sky (if you can envision a comet approaching our solar system from below, that's roughly what is happening and now is is moving above the plane of our solar system so it is becoming visible from the norther hemisphere).

Tucson has been pretty cloudy for several nights in a row (I first looked for the comet last Monday without success then the clouds rolled in). Today the skies were clear and I was able to get the comet. It was not visible naked eye but it was easy in 8x42 binoculars. I am testing a pair of 22x100 binoculars this weekend for work and it was really nice through them!

Of course I had my Canon 60d out and the best pics were zoomed in with my EF 70-300mm lens. Here is what the comet looked like.

Today was the comet's closest approach to the Sun which is when they are usually brightest. However, it won't instantly disappear from the sky although it will start fading over the next week or so.  A great time to look is Tuesday night (March 12th) when the comet will be near the crescent Moon. You probably want to start looking about half an hour after sunset and the comet will set about an hour after sunset. Find a clear western horizon to maximize your chances.

Unfortunately, I won't get many more chances to see it. Tuesday I leave for my first trip to our observatory in Chile! I have looked at my flight and if it is on time, I will land in Dallas right after sunset and will have to find the top of parking garage or something to try and see it between flights. In Chile, the comet will not be visible (but I might get to see another southern hemisphere comet, Comet Lemmon!)