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I found Comet C2012 Panstars this morning by virtue of a little star hopping. M48 was a good reference point from where to start. In the Vixen 115mm, the Comet showed a bit of size with a condensed nucleus. I saw no evidence of a tail. It actually looked a little like some globular clusters. I estimated that the Comet was about Mag 8, or perhaps very slightly brighter. I used a 24mm Panoptic EP (37x) to find the Comet (which was pleasantly easy to find), but found the better view was with my 14mm Radian (63x). On using a 11mm Nagler (81x), I felt that I was in the realm of empty magnification.
I also found it with the 10x50 binoculars, but that was much more difficult and I knew exactly where to look because I had found it in the telescope first. Suffice to say, people will be able to find the Comet with a casual scan of the binoculars.
This is a much brighter Comet than Comet Siding Springs in the evening.
I have been up at the right time each morning for the last week, but now the clouds have finally parted, I am looking forward to a better night’s sleep!
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