I agree that Pan-STARRS is not a spectacular comet by any stretch. Though as I observed it with my family Sunday night and last night, it was real hard not to be excited about it by seeing how curious and interested they were. Those of my family who saw it those nights are not as "seasoned" as I am as night sky watchers, and have not seen other significant comets. It was comet Hale-Bopp that got me jump started in amateur astronomy. Hopefully this comet and any possibly more spectacular ones in the near future will also spark someone's interest and grow this hobby. Mat -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Joe Bauman Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 4:06 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Comet from SPOC I have to disagree about how good Pan-STARRS is, at least in my experience. Comet McNaught in January 2007 was far better than Pan-STARRS. I was able to see it by naked eye and photograph it above Salt Lake Valley at dusk, but I was only able to see Pan-STARRS once from SPOC and it was just barely naked-eye. McNaught was easily seen without aid, including tail and coma. Another comet I saw that also was easily visible with the naked-eye and was much than Pan-STARRS was Ikeya-Zhang of March 2002. If I search my notes I may be able to find others. -- Joe ________________________________ From: Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 12:13 AM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Comet from SPOC Not great, but surely better than just "I've seen it". Last night (Sunday) it really was quite nice. Respectable tail with visible detail, bright coma. Certainly the best comet I've seen since Holmes some 5 years ago. And you have to go back to the 90s to find something better than that. patrick Sent from my iPad On Mar 18, 2013, at 23:42, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@yahoo.com> wrote:
I agree. I have seen it, is about the best I can say about that little comet. -- Joe
________________________________ From: Siegfried Jachmann <siegfried@jachmann.org> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, March 18, 2013 10:55 PM Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Comet from SPOC
Yep. We saw it in the telescopes, the finders, in binoculars ald as it got darker naked eye. I was only able to see it naked eye by looking along the telescope tube. I would not have just picked it out. It's by no means a great comet, not even a good comet but it is a comet and now I have seen it. I went out to SPOC with my brother-in-law, George Van Komen. We had a good time. Later Kurt Fisher picked out Messier A & B on the Moon. I had not paid attention to them so it was a real treat. Thanks Kurt.
Sig
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