http://www.space.com/15108-comet-panstarrs-skywatching-countdown-2013.html Kudos to Rob Ratkowski for his shot of the PANSTARRS PS1 on Haleakala, Maui! Mauna Kea is in the distance on the right. Beautiful Rob! Mahalo, Dave Bennett On Mar 30, 2012, at 12:52 PM, Jay Eads <jayleads@gmail.com> wrote: Wonderful article from Space.com about a new found comet named Comet PANSTARRS after the telescope that found it since so many were involved. On March 9, 2013, the date of perihelion, Comet PANSTARRS will pass to within 28 million miles (45 million kilometers) of the sun on that date. It was discovered in Libra at mag. 19 last year and on February 15th, 2012 it was down to Mag. 14.5.

From the article:

"Estimates (or maybe really "guesstimates") suggest that at perihelion on March 9, the comet might become as bright as zero magnitude, placing it in the same rank as the stars Arcturus, Vega and Capella; which are some of the brightest stars in the sky. Thereafter, the comet's rapid northward motion, owing to its orbital inclination of 84 degrees to the plane of the solar system will gradually carry it away from the sun and into the western evening sky. If there is a significant tail, it would probably be seen protruding almost straight up and perhaps tilted slightly to the right, relative to the horizon. But as is the case with the comet’s brightness, we can only guess just how long it will be. . . " Here is the [url= http://www.space.com/15108-comet-panstarrs-skywatching-countdown-2013.html]link[/url ] -- Jay Eads _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".