You may have heard about a few comets that will soon be visible. Know that they will not pose any threat to the Earth.
Comet PanSTARRS will be LOW in the West after sunset starting March 11. On March 12 and 13 it will be near the crescent Moon, which should help in finding the fuzzy comet PanSTARRS in twilight. It will get slightly higher each night (and fading) as it moves away from the Sun to the Northwest. By March 20 the Moon will brighten the sky and may hinder viewing the comet.
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Comet PanSTARRS viewing tips:
No telescope is needed, but it will give a close view up once the comet is found. Binoculars will help in finding it, but most importantly you will need a completely unobstructed Western horizon. Perhaps a hilltop or looking over a body of water would make a good place to try and see it. Since the comet is very low the sky must be VERY CLEAR. Don’t get fooled by plane contrails as those can resemble comets. If it moves it is a jet plane exhaust.
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Although the geometry is not as good for viewing, comet PanSTARRS looks a lot like comet Hale-Bopp from 1997. Attached are pictures I took of comet Hale-Bopp to give you an idea of what could be expected if conditions are good.
Comet ISON will be visible late November into December and is expected to be much brighter than PanSTARRS. But beware about exaggerated claims in the news, comets are very unpredictable and may disappoint. I’ll report on it in November when it nears the Sun. Happy hunting.
Some Comet facts:
Some comets come from the Kuiper Belt (past Neptune) and some come from the Oort cloud (way, way past Pluto). Some comets are thought to be inter-stellar! Major components of a comet are the Nucleus, Coma, and Tail.
Comets are left-over ices and dust from the formation of the solar system. When a comet gets close to the Sun these ices SUBLIMATE. They change from the solid state to a gas, skipping the liquid state. The violent out gassing in the nucleus carries dust out into space. Solar wind pushes the dust and gas away from the Sun to form a tail. Both the gases and dust reflect and interact with sunlight allowing us to observe and photograph the comet.
I will be giving a presentation on comets this Wednesday, March 13 at the Bruce Museum starting at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome.
Clear Skies!
