Sapa tau pasla komen Pantstar?
ini guide nak tengok
There’s a lot of excitement about Comet ISON, which might become a very bright comet, visible across the globe, by the end of 2013.
But, before that happens, a second comet is on track to become visible
to the eye alone when it’s closest to the sun in March of 2013. This
February 2013, we are beginning to get the first photos of Comet
PANSTARRS on our Facebook page,
from friends in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s already visible with
binoculars, and it already has a fan-shaped tail. In March 2013, this
comet will come into view for Northern Hemisphere skywatchers and, by
some estimates, it should brighten enough to see with the unaided eye. I
was hearing “as bright as Venus” for awhile. Now I’m hearing “as
bright as the stars in the Big Dipper” or “as bright as the stars in
Orion’s Belt.” Just remember that comets are notoriously difficult to
predict. As comet-hunter David Levy once famously said:
Comets are like cats; they have tails, and they do precisely what they want.
Look below for a month-by-month Comet PANSTARRS viewing guide.Comet PANSTARRS as captured by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy in Australia. View larger.
EarthSky
Facebook friend Luis Argerich in Buenos Aires posted this cool photo of
Comet PANSTARRS on February 12. The comet is the fan-shaped object on
the left. Luis caught the comet in the same photo as an iridium flare.
Click here to learn about iridium flares. Awesome capture, Luis. Thank you! View larger.
Mid- to late February 2013. Comet PANSTARRS is now closer
to the sun than Venus. By all reports, it’s on track to be visible to
the eye in early March as expected. According to the website
Spaceweather.com:
Solar heating is vaporizing the comet’s icy core and
creating a wide, fan-shaped tail visible through binoculars in the
southern hemisphere.
Comet PANSTARRS in early March 2013
As
seen from mid-northern latitudes, Comet Panstarrs might become visible
with an optical aid around March 7 or 8. However, the comet will sit in
the glow of dusk and will set around 40 to 45 minutes after sunset.
By March 12, the comet will be considerably higher in the sky and will
set around 75 minutes after sun. What’s more, the comet will be next to
the waxing crescent moon on the North American evening of March 12.
March 5, 2013. Comet PANSTARRS passes closest to Earth at
1.10 Astronomical Units, (AU). One AU equals one Earth-sun distance,
about 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers. In other words, this
comet will pass slightly farther from us than our distance from the sun.
No worries about it hitting us.
Starting about March 7, 2013. PANSTARRS will appear above
the western horizon after sunset for Northern Hemisphere viewers. To see
it, you will need an unobstructed, cloudless view of the west after
sunset. It is best to pick a dark spot, away from streetlights. Look in
the sunset direction, as soon as the sky darkens. The comet will be
just above the horizon.
March 10. The comet passes closest to the sun – as close as
our sun’s innermost planet, Mercury – at 0.30 AU – or about 28 million
miles (45 million kilometers). Comets are typically brightest and most
active around the time they are closest to the sun when solar heating
vaporizes ice and dust from the comet’s outer crust. Not only will the
comet quickly brighten, but it should also develop the long classic
comet dust tail.
Around March 12 and 13. Moonlight will interfere with the darkness of the night sky, but there
should be some wonderful photo opportunities as the young moon returns
to the same part of the sky as the comet.
Comet PANSTARRS from mid- to late March 2013
Around
March 12 and 13 there will be some great opportunities to photograph
the comet near a thin crescent moon, in the west just after sunset.
Chart via NASA.
Throughout March 2013. The comet could be visible in the
Northern Hemisphere evening sky low in the west after sunset. It will
move northward each evening during March 2013 as it moves from being in
front of the constellation Pisces to being in front of the
constellations Pegasus and Andromeda. At this time, the comet might
have a bright dust tail, and perhaps visible to the unaided eye or
binoculars. It should, at least, if it lives up to expectations.
Remember to look for the comet in the vicinity of the waxing crescent
moon on March 12, 13 and 14. The comet swings above the star Algenib on March 17/18, and above the star Alpheratz on March 25/26.
Comet PANSTARRS in April 2013
Comet
PANSTARRS on the evening of April 6, 2013. This view is to the west
that evening. The oval near the comet is the Andromeda galaxy. You’ll
want a dark sky to see both the comet and the galaxy. Chart via Dave
Eagle at www.eagleseye.me.uk. Used with permission. View larger.
April 2013. No matter how bright it gets in March, the
comet will surely fade as April arrives, as it moves away from the sun
and back out into the depths of space. But it will be located far to
the north on the sky’s dome and will be
circumpolar for
northerly latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. That means it might be
visible somewhere in the northern sky throughout the night for northern
observers. What’s more, the comet will be near in the sky to another
beautiful and
fuzzy object in our night sky, the Andromeda
Galaxy (M31), the nearest large spiral galaxy to our Milky Way. If the
comet truly is bright then, and if it still has a substantial tail,
it’ll be an awesome photo opportunity!
Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) was exceedingly faint when Hawaii’s Pan-STARRS 1 telescope discovered it on June 6, 2011.
The Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii discovered this comet in June
2011. Since comets carry the names of their discoverers, it has been
designated C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS). Only the largest telescopes on Earth
could glimpse Comet PANSTARRS when it was first discovered, but amateurs
telescopes began to pick it up by May 2012. By October 2012, its
surrounding coma was seen to be large and fine at an estimated 75,000
miles (120,000 kilometers) wide.
By the way, Comet PANSTARRS is considered a
non-periodic comet. It probably took millions of years to come from the great Oort
comet cloud surrounding our solar system. Once it rounds the sun,
experts say, its orbit will shorten to only 110,000 years. It is, for
sure, a once-in-a-lifetime comet.