Comet L4 Panstarrs photographed from Australia at dawn on Feb. 17, 2013 with a telephoto lens. A bright head and short tail are visible. Credit: Joseph Brimacombe
2013 could turn out to be a comet bonanza. No fewer than three of these long-tailed beauties are expected to brighten to naked eye visibility. Already Comet C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS has cracked that barrier. Sky watchers in Australia have watched it grow from a telescopic smudge to a beautiful binocular sight low above the horizon at both dusk and dawn. A few have even spotted it without optical aid in the past week. Excited reports of a bright, fan-shaped dust tail two full moon diameters long whet our appetite for what’s to come.
(...)
Read the rest of The Year of the Comets: Three Reasons Why 2013 Could be the Best Ever (1,164 words)
© Bob King for Universe Today, 2013. |
Permalink |
No comment |
Post tags: C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS, comet, Encke, ISON, Lemmon
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
