Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) - Bright in 2013?

[Greg Bryant]

A new comet, C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS), has been announced this morning. Discovered by the first telescope of the Pan-Starrs survey in Hawaii, the comet is currently predicted to reach perihelion in April 2013. It could become visible to the unaided eye.

More details to come...

Greg

[Liz]

What the!! :D Thank you Greg, you have made my day. :thumbsup:

[luigi]

Great news! I hope this is friendly to the South Hemisphere observers, or I'll need to travel.
Yipppieeee!!!

[mozzie]

thanks greg...i need a fix of a good comet it's been awhile.....:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[mithrandir]

Given the numbers in MPEC K11L33 and Horizons, perihelion 2013 Apr. 17 however JPL warns there is not enough data yet for an accurate orbit.

Based on current data for that date I get a magnitude estimate of 1.6 and it will be setting at around sunset. After April 17 it will be only above the horizon in daylight or too far north, until it returns mid August at mag 11 and fading.

For Sydney on the last few days of March and first of April it would be better, mag ~3 and setting around 21:15. RA ~1:40 and Dec -30, moving north a couple of degrees per day.

Let's hope more data will improve things.

[Greg Bryant]

Although the first orbit calculation on the MPEC this morning is based on ~2 weeks, thanks to a set of pre-discovery observations, it's certainly concentrated towards the last few days. The uncertainty in the date of perihelion is still perhaps a fortnight or so, not to mention the uncertainty in some other parameters - this happen with Elenin, where the data was jumping around a bit for a while.

With the magnitude parameters from Horizons, while they up the absolute magnitude by 2 (which is a nice estimate for visual vs the CCD data available), it assumes a brightening rate for a long-period comet rather than a first-time comet, and that's not known yet.

Hence my first post :)

Greg

[OneOfOne]

Can't they give it a hurry on? We are all supposed to be dead by 21st December the year before, missed by that much :(

I agree though, it is about time we had another naked eye comet. McNaught did so much to create an interest in astronomy, another boost would be great.

[Greg Bryant]

In all probability, there may be another as-yet-undiscovered naked-eye comet before then. On average, there is a comet of 6th magnitude or better every year or so, a comet of 4th magnitude or better every 2 years, a comet of 2nd magnitude or better every 5 years, and a comet of 1st magnitude or better every 10 years. That's the long-run average, which takes into account droughts and deluges.

Greg

[Suzy]

Liz, I yearn to see the day when you discover a comet and have it named after you. I wouldn't be surprised at all. :D And I'll get to tell everyone ever so proudly, "I know her!" :D:D:D :lol:
If anyone deserves a comet, this gal does.;)

[CometGuy]

The orbit published in MPEC K11L33 gives a perihelion of April 17, 2013, but since that Circular 2 additional prediscovery images were found on May 30, 2011. When you add astrometry from these images Perihelion is brought forward 2 months.

The result of that works in the northern hemisphere's favour (but at the expense of the Southern hemisphere - but that can be solved by travelling!). Lets hope the comet brightens well and we get a decent naked eye comet :thumbsup:. Anyway the elements I calculate with all 36 available observations are as follows:

C/2011 L4

Perihelion 2013 Feb 12.38 TT; Constraint: e=1

q 0.32
Peri. 332.25
Node 67.08
e 1.0
Incl. 65.09

[Liz]

:lol::lol: thanks Suzy, alas, I will never deserve a comet as not patient enough!! About 10 years ago there was a comet around (? name) that our group was observing one night. It was literally zipping across the sky over our 6 hours observing night, and all the guys called it 'Comet Liz' ..... that is enough for me ... maybe. ;)

[Outbackmanyep]

I won't hold my breath for this one, there are other fish to fry first!

Or comets to fry.........
And Liz, i reckon you should take the plunge one day and try doing some visual obs, we need more passionate female comet observers out there!

Cheers!

[Outbackmanyep]

The only comets of note so far to watch is:
C/2009 P1 Garradd
45P/ Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova

Comet C/2010 X1 Elenin may turn out not to be as bright as predicted but we'll see....... and P/2006 T1 Levy hasn't been recovered as yet from recent reports.

[CometGuy]

Latest orbit is out:

http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K11/K11L51.html

February Perihelion and better placed for the northern hemisphere, although if it is really bright (eg mag 3 or brighter) we might get some views of the comet in the evening twilight early Feb, 2013.

Terry

[luigi]

Ty Terry, I'm crossing my fingers for this to be a great comet and offer some stunning views at twilight for us in the south hemisphere in 2013.

If this is really better for the N hemisphere I will have to visit my sister in the UK :D

[ngcles]

Hi All,

Has been a new set of orbital elements published for this comet that has caused yet another sigificant bounce in the perihelion date and the orbital inclination. Probably several more weeks to go before the orbit is nailed down, but this is how it stands at present:

M.P.E.C. 2011-M11 Issued 2011 June 17, 17:30


C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)
T 2013 Mar. 23.86124 TT MPC
q 0.3150603 (2000.0) P Q
Peri. 333.30917 +0.35872293 +0.22400832
Node 65.09482 +0.92945994 +0.00387820
e 1.0 Incl. 92.46497 -0.08615156 +0.97457952
From 54 observations 2011 May 21-June 11.


Best,

Les D

[luigi]

Thank you and sorry to ask but can you tell me what's the expected brightness based on the last data and how it will be seen from the South Hemisphere? Ty!
:help:

[mithrandir]

MPEC doesn't supply a magnitude with the orbital elements.

JPL have M1= 6. M2= 10.5 in their "Comet physical & dynamic parameters" data, and these elements calculated using 55 observations for Jun 21 2011, and which differ a bit from MPEC.
$$SOE
2455733.500000000 = A.D. 2011-Jun-21 00:00:00.0000 (CT)
EC= 1.000465940853835E+00 QR= 3.027100489471750E-01 IN= 8.528173948630401E+01
OM= 6.558886142080000E+01 W = 3.335725096912954E+02 Tp= 2456362.424215855543
N = 5.951959991084002E-05 MA=-3.743331770195418E-02 TA= 2.027969705288987E+02
A =-6.496748384594785E+02 AD= 6.684586454211886E+91 PR= 1.157407291666667E+95
$$EOE

Feeding those numbers into CdC leads to an estimated mag 0.8 around March 22 2013 when it sets around sunset for most SH observers. The week or two before would be better located but less bright. eg on the 8th set is around 21:15.

[ngcles]

Hi Luis,



Very hard to say with any certainty Luis remembering this comet is currently outside the orbit of Jupiter and we can't really say whether it will be a good performer or not in intrinsic brightness. Indeed the elements are still jumping around a lot because of the relatively small number of astrometric observations and shortness of the observed track. That''ll change in a month or so as the observed track gets longer.

Subject to correction here, but I don't think we even know whether this is a "first-timer" (notorious underperformers) or a "return-visitor". Given the elements above, There is a high likelyhood it will be a naked-eye object around perihelion, fairly probable that it will be reasonably bright but hard to say exactly how bright.

I'd be surprised if it didn't make 5th magnitude, fair chance of 1st or 2nd magnitude, maybe even a bit brighter if it is a particularly good performer. We'll know a lot more in several months time.


Best,

Les D

[luigi]

Andrew, Les, thank you!
We'll keep an eye on this comet, it seems promising!

A Beautiful bright comet at Sunset will be a great thing!

[mithrandir]

Les, my understanding is that unless the eccentricity drops it will be a one-timer. MPEC say 1.0 but that is rounded. JPL has had 1.0004 or higher ever since they dropped the warning about limited observations.

Once e is established to be below 1.0 don't they relabel C/ as P/ ?

Andrew

[ngcles]

Hi Andrew,



Not certain as to when they re-designate Andrew but with the orbital elements jumping around quite a bit until a longer track is observed it's
probably too early to say with great certainty.

True, e=1.0 at the moment (so the orbit appears parabolic implying a once-only pass) but figures might change so we'll know more certainly whether it is a first-timer or not in a few weeks I guess.


Best,

Les D

[Greg Bryant]

If the comet's orbital eccentricity (e) is less than 1, then it is a (long or short) periodic comet. However, the designation "P/" is only applied to comets of period 200 years or less, and of late there's been a trend to only apply "P/" straight away if the comet is of period 30 years or less, with the "P/" only being applied to comets of 30-200 years when it is sighted again at the next return.

The Minor Planet Centre's orbit for PANSTARRS has e=1 because they solve for e=1 at this time until sufficient observations are available (thus far, the observations still only go up to June 11). The JPL orbit is derived from the Minor Planet Centre's database of reported observations but makes different assumptions.

Greg

[ngcles]

Hi Greg,



Thanks for that -- without knowing the answer, I had a sneaking suspicion that the e=1 was an assumption used in the early orbital calculations and that more observations eventually provide the true figure. Thanks !


Best,

Les D

[Outbackmanyep]

We still have a while to wait until we can "predict" the end result, comets can do anything! My job, though, will be to start observing when it's in range of my 10" visually.

[Greg Bryant]

That will be in about a year. PANSTARRS should be around 13th magnitude mid next year.

Greg

[luigi]

This comet needs a better name, I can imagine press editors horror to title "Look for PANSTARRS in your night sky"

Mmmmm....

[ngcles]

Hi Luigi & All,



Yes I can see this one being nick-named "Comet Pornstar" -- particularly if it becomes a spectacular performer.


Best,

Les D

[Alchemy]

Doh...... It's kinda obvious once it's pointed out..... What were they thinking when they picked that acronym.

[ngcles]

Hi All,

Another set of elements incorporating observations up 'till up to 1 July has seen the date of perihelion jump around again (backward by 2-odd weeks) -- now on 8 March 2013 as opposed to the 25th March. Also the orbital inclination has changed a bit (10-odd degrees) from the last set

Expect further change ...

From MPEC 2011-N13 Issued 2011 July 2, 21:04

C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)
T 2013 Mar. 8.82253 TT MPC
q 0.3006310 (2000.0) P Q
Peri. 333.66728 +0.41661800 +0.08460732
Node 65.73753 +0.90483995 +0.05747651
e 1.0 Incl. 83.13473 -0.08771602 +0.99475527
From 131 observations 2011 May 21-July 1.

At least this set sees the comet at its best in the evening in a dark of the Moon. But there will probably be further alteration as time goes on so ...


Best,

Les D

[CometGuy]

Hi Les,

I believe the last set of elements published in MPEC 2011-M31 (http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/mpec/K11/K11M31.html) to be erroneous. This was noted by a number of people in one of the recent comet lists. Apparently, the elements are auto generated now, so something must have gone amiss.

Interesting when I use the same astrometric sets I have consistently being getting perihelion around March 11 from the past 2 weeks so wonder if there is still a minor problem with the elements given in the recent circular. In any case it does make too much difference in viewing circumstances.

Terry

[universe24]

Has anyone got the visual through telescope or imaging results of the current status of the comet?

Thanks.

[Liz]

As far as I know, it hasnt been visible for as while, but should return to our morning skies in the next week or so.

Outbackmanyep had a go this morning but no luck yet.

[universe24]

Thanks on the reply.:)

The observation of this month and next month is important to ensure that the comet is going well for the show in March 2013...:)

[Liz]

No worries William ... am sure we will have reports coming in over the next couple of weeks, fingers crossed, will be very exciting!!

[mithrandir]

The latest set of elements from MPEC 2012-W54 are:

C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)
Epoch 2013 Mar. 9.0 TT = JDT 2456360.5
T 2013 Mar. 10.16768 TT MPC
q 0.3015428 (2000.0) P Q
z -0.0001128 Peri. 333.65151 +0.41006822 +0.10046896
+/-0.0000009 Node 65.66583 +0.90783010 +0.05059188
e 1.0000340 Incl. 84.20690 -0.08768448 +0.99365308
From 1290 observations 2011 May 21-2012 Oct. 1, mean residual 0".4.

I've run all the reported data from MPEC through find_orb and get much the same.

C/2011 L4
Perihelion 2013 Mar 10.160686 TT = 3:51:23 (JD 2456361.660686)
Epoch 2012 Aug 18.0 TT = JDT 2456157.5 Earth MOID: 0.6682 Ju: 0.0467
q 0.3015788883 (2000.0) Me: 0.0120
M(N) 4.9 K 10.0 Peri. 333.64584969 0.41005300042 -0.10051188149
Node 65.66606199 0.90782756215 -0.05068004038
e 1.0000681616 Incl. 84.20719178 -0.08778185563 -0.99364424977
From 1294 observations 2011 May 21-2012 Oct. 1; RMS error 0.580 arcseconds

The doco is a bit hard to make sense of but I think that is predicting a nuclear magnitude about 4.9

[cometcatcher]

This comet is only just barely above the tree line after Christmas for me. Not good considering Mackay skies at that elevation during summer. Why couldn't it have been a winter comet? :sadeyes:

[universe24]

A winter comet still awaiting you and other fellows to discover one:)

I will try to observe it near equator on 22th Dec.

[Rob_K]

Hi William. It's back and going OK. Managed to image this comet at very low altitude in a fast-brightening sky this morning. Trailed a bit but nonetheless the comet is clearly visible. Position should improve day by day until the Moon kills it.

I added some star magnitudes to the image, TYC and rubbery. The comet definitely appears brighter than mag 10, how much brighter is difficult to say because any extended coma would have been washed out with the sky brightness, other factors aside.

http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww271/Rob_Kau/C2011L418Dec2012text.jpg

Cheers -

[cometcatcher]

Well done Rob!

[universe24]

Wow! Great job Rob!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Yes, looks healthy...:P:D

[Shark Bait]

Great capture Rob. It has inspired me to check out Starry Night. I now know exactly where to look over the next two months.

[Rob_K]

Thanks guys. The time on that pic should be 17:14, not 18:14 (ie 4:14am EDT, UT+11). I blame tiredness, why can't all comets be visible at convenient times? :shrug: :P

FWIW here's a link to a re-work showing a wider field:
http://i727.photobucket.com/albums/ww271/Rob_Kau/C2011L418Dec2012smsttext.jpg

Cheers -

[Shark Bait]

Just out of curiosity Rob, was the comet visible in a single exposure before being stacked?

[Rob_K]

Yep Stu, quite clear in all seven subs. :thumbsup: Stacking didn't really bring it out any stronger, just smoothed the image out and enabled me to work on it a bit.

Cheers -

[universe24]

Hope the observation and status update keep coming up...:P:rolleyes:

[Rob_K]

:lol: Had no chance for a follow-up due to heavy work commitments - others that I know of have tried but been plagued by low cloud in the SE. Surprised there's not a few observations by now though. Last chance really, before the Moon spoils the party! ;)

Cheers -

[universe24]

I'll do observation on Christmas morning. Just 2 degrees above horizon at 6:15am Malaysia time.:rolleyes:

On 17th Jan will be higher at 5 degrees on the same time and that is the highest the comet can reach for Malaysia sky. I definitely will do the observation too.:)

[Shark Bait]

Overcast skies in SE QLD have prevented scope time recently. The forecast is for clearing conditions today with a sunny skies tomorrow. If the forecast holds, I will take the scope for a drive to catch this comet and be home in time to share chrissy morning with family.

Hours of darkness for Brisbane are approx 0230hrs to 0315hrs.

Starry Night V6.3 data for attached image:

Name: PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4)
Limiting Magnitude: 9.9
Universal Time: 24/12/2012 17:45:00
Local Time: 25/12/2012 3:45:00 AM
Location: Brisbane
Latitude: 27° 29.09' S
Longitude: 152° 57.55' E
Constellation name: Scorpius
Azimuth: 128.89
Altitude: 7.72
RA (JNow): 255.14
Dec (JNow): -37.88


EDIT: So much for clearing skies. Slate grey at the moment. I hope its comes good for tomorrow morning.

[Rob_K]

Outbackmanyep has posted an observation to comets_ml, m1 = 9.1, 2012 Dec 23.72 UT.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/message/20316

I think the Group's messages are open - apologies if it's membership only. :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[universe24]

Thanks Rob!:):thumbsup:
Hope tomorrow weather is clear...

[meade expert]

HI All

Anyone been able to observe Comet Panstarrs at all in the last week?
:rolleyes:

[Liz]

Tried 2 mornings ago, but cloud was hanging over the hook of Scorpius where the comet is lurking at the moment. The sky was very light too, will check out in another week or so, when sky darkens just a wee bit more.

this is the pic I took 2 mornings ago - the bright object being Venus.

[universe24]

Keep on trying Liz!:thumbsup:

[badabing82]

anyone got any updates?
seems to be a information drought over the last week =o)

[Rob_K]

It's still very low in the pre-dawn sky and there's a big bright waning gibbous Moon washing it out even if you have clear skies. Don't expect much in the short term - a few days or so as the Moon passes last quarter should see more obs roll in. :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[fungussface]

Hi,
Is there an update on the comet and when it will become visible to the naked eye?
Thanks
Colin

[CometGuy]

The attached image is from this morning. It's a combination of 9 x 15 second exposures made low in the east. The comet seems to be around magnitude 8 at the moment, and if it's brightening trend continues it would reach magnitude 1 in March. I suspect it will fall a little short of this, say mag 2 but you never know.

The problem with Comet PANSTARRS is at its brightest it will be very low in bright twilight making it a lot harder to see than it's magnitude would suggest.

Terry

[universe24]

Well done CometGuy!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thu mbsup::eyepop:

So many stars in your image. The comet look pretty.:):D:P

[badabing82]

Nice, looks good thus far lets see how it progresses throughout the month

[cometcatcher]

Nice shot Terry.

Not as many stars in mine. Sky too bright! I can't believe how fast dawn crept up on me. Anyway, 8 x 20 seconds at ISO 400 unguided, Skywatcher 120mm F5 refractor, HEQ5 pro, from Thursday 3rd.

[Liz]

Well done Terry and Kevin!! :thumbsup:

[Aidan]

Brilliant shot...

What is the current location of PANSTARRS. Is it in range of 10" Dob with hopefully clear and dark skies?

Cheers

Aidan

[OzEclipse]

Ephemerides
http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/returnprepeph.cgi?d=c&o=CK11L040

[mithrandir]

Aidan, the free programs Stellarium, CdC, and C2A (and probably others I don't have) all support in-program updates of their comet and asteroid databases. Provided the data has both the magnitude data values they will estimate the brightness you can expect.

At the moment it is at 17h26'03" -39°54'54" mag 9.2 visible from a bit after 03:00 AEDT.

Your best chance is probably in the fortnight around Jan 25 when it will be in the morning sky around 02:45 AEDT. CdC predicts Jan 18 mag 8.1, Jan 25 mag 7.4, Feb 1 mag 6.6.

[badabing82]

Hi,

So it's confirmed at m 9.1 or their thereabouts currently?

[Rob_K]

Unfortunately most (if not all?) planetarium programs update from MPC ephemerides. When a comet is discovered a preliminary ephemeris is prepared with orbital elements and a prediction of brightness behaviour based on a simple formula relating to some fundamental properties of the object and behaviour of similar previous objects. Even as the orbital elements are updated with new astrometry, the m1 predictions are not altered. Therefore if a comet goes into bright outburst or performs better than expected (or worse!), your planetarium program will continue to show the original MPC predictions. Thus we had Starry night, Stellarium etc showing mag 17 or something for comet 17P/Holmes when it was a naked eye object a few years ago, and planetarium programs continuing to give magnitudes for C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) for months after the comet nucleus effectively ceased to exist.

To get an idea of how a comet is performing, you're better off going to a website with updated light curves. Here, the formula will have been modified to account for a stream of incoming observations. As a one-stop-shop, you can't really beat Seiichi Yoshida's site IMO:
http://www.aerith.net/index.html
http://www.aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html (click 'South' link at top)

If you go to his C/2011 L4 page you'll see how the comet is going, and is likely to go, in the light curve at the bottom of the page:
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2011L4/2011L4.html
Currently the light curve doesn't have the latest southern observations since the comet crawled out of daylight but you can expect that they'll be added in the next few days probably. Sometimes more than one formula will fit existing observations and you may see other sites using different formulae. But it is a constant refining process - prediction is not an exact science!

There are many other sources of updated comet information around the web, some good, some bad. :thumbsup:



No, see above. Recent visual obs include m1=9.1 (23 Dec), 8.1 (24 Dec), 8.0 (27 Dec), 8.3 (1 Jan), and Terry's est of around mag 8 on 2 Jan - the comet is not fluctuating in brightness, this is just differences in what people see (exacerbated by low altitude, different instruments & moonlight). So the trend is that it appears to be a bit visually brighter than the ephemeris magnitude, so brighter than mag 9.1. And brightening all the time.

Cheers -

[Aidan]

:thanx:Thanks as always

Looking forward to hunting for it.

[badabing82]

Hi Cheers for that yeah i use seiichi's site amongst others but as you said they are mostly northern hemisphere so not a great amount of info at this stage.

No idea how i totally missed the the trend i just saw the m=9.1 even though i read it was 8.x a few days ago! lol

[JetDragon]

Does anyone have a visual on this comet in the last day or so - Calsky is saying it is at mag 4.9 now

Comet 'C/2011 L4' Magnitude= 4.9mag
Best seen from 4.6h - 5.0h (htop=19° at SE at 5.0h) (in constellation Corona Australis)
RA=18h02m33s Dec=-42°24.5' (J2000) Distance to Sun= 1.32AU Distance to Earth= 2.07AU Elongation= 31°
hourly motion: dRA=102.7"/h dDec=-32.3"/h

thanks

Dave

[guodong]

:eyepop:! Thanks for the info, Dave.

Is there an explosion?

I tried in the morning of 12th Jan by a small telescope (65mm in dia, focal length 420mm and 25mm eyepiece with magnification of 16.8), but failed. Might be due to the light pollution or fog...However can find it from the photo with 500D connected to the telescope (2s exposure, ISO 12800). Waiting for another clear night.

Cheers
Guodong

[Liz]

From the comet observing guys down south - it was observed this morning at mag 8.6. Alas, they feel it may not brighten as much as was predicted, but still may get get mag 2. :)

[meade expert]

Any one observed Panstarrs lately?
What mag is it now??:confused2:

[mithrandir]

Given the recent weather I doubt there have been many observations. Based on the numbers from JPL yesterday it should be something around 6.2
Using JPL's figures the prediction is for mag -6 on March 9th/10th.
From now until then it will be in the western sky for about an hour or so after sunset.

[Stefan12]

Hi Guys,

Here's an image I got of Panstarrs on Tuesday 29th. I had to wait for the comet to rise above some tall pine that surround my place. I was also competing against the morning twilight and the moon. I still managed to capture it though, which I was thrilled about.

Image taken through a William optics Megrez 90 Refractor and tracking with a HEQ5 PRO mount :)

[Liz]

Wow, beautiful image Stefan!! A comet with a tail is a wondrous sight! :thumbsup:

Am yet to catch it, bit more tricky up here in North Qld, will keep trying though.

Latest obs I could find was from Outbackmanyep, who had it at 6.7 on the 27th January.:)

Welcome to IIS Stefan!!

[Littlestar]

Hi, all

Can it be spotted in the western sky after sunset now? Or is it still a morning object? Thanks!

[astroron]

Rises at 02:25 tomorrow morning and sets in the south west at 18:36.
Sky is still bright then.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[jaradmartin]

What's the latest news - is PANSTARRS likely to be spectacular, or is optimism still waning?

[Liz]

Finally saw Panstarrs this am, had been too low for Northern Australia, and still pretty low here. A bit of cloud low in the south, but it rose above it, and quite easy to see with binoculars. Last estimate I heard was mag 5.1, and supposed to reach about mag 2-3 next month.

[meade expert]

Imaged Panstarrs this morning (60d 55mm f4):eyepop:, estimate its brightness at 4.5 ,visible to naked eye , can see small tail through 10x50 binos.Will post image tonight.

[mithrandir]

Given the current Sydney weather the universe could end and the first we'd know of it was when someone elsewhere posted photos on IIS. There's PANSTARRS, Lemmon, and 2012 DA14 and they all hide behind the perennial cloud.

[meade expert]

Images of Comet Panstars over my neighbours house from this morning taken with 60D 12800 iso 55mm f4 lens and tripod (1 sec shots) Stacked in DSS quickly.(Wollongong area)NSW.:eyepop:

[Dobman]

Whats the outlook for seeing panstaars from mandurah in WA?
My planetarium software isnt any help. can anyone post any screen shots from Starry Night etc for the coming weeks?
Thanks
Simon

[mithrandir]

What planetarium software are you using? These are from CdC with current elements.

[meade expert]

Folks

Took a 5 sec shot of Comet Panstarrs tonight from Saddleback Mt NSW.
Nice and bright !:eyepop:

[JB80]

Just under a week to go and I should be able to get my first glimpse.