A Possible Naked-eye Comet in March, A Better One in December.

Feb. 6, 2013: Far beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto, where the sun is a pinprick of light not much brighter than other stars, a vast swarm of icy bodies circles the solar system. Astronomers call it the "Oort Cloud," and it is the source of some of history's finest comets.

One of them could be heading our way now.

Source: A Possible Naked-eye Comet in March - NASA Science

You can watch the stories video or the same here, the skyplot starts at 2:50 of the video:

Skyplot is for viewers residing in the Northern Hemisphere at 40° North Latitude.
Source of this skyplot: Updates on Comet PanSTARRS | SkyandTelescope.com

This link shows more about the the emergence of PanSTARRS on Friday, March 8th: https://waitingforison.wordpress.com/comet-panstarrs/

Orbital elements & Ephemeris: C/2012 S1 (LEMMON-PANSTARRS)
MPEC 2013-A66 : COMET P/2012 WA34 (LEMMON-PANSTARRS)

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This is the one in December,

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Comet of the Century?

Jan. 18, 2013: Out near the orbit of Jupiter, a faint speck of light is moving through the black of space. At first glance it doesn't look like much, no brighter than a thousand distant stars speckling the velvet sky behind it; indeed, it takes a big telescope make out that it is a comet.

But what a comet it could turn out to be….

Later this year, “Comet ISON” could blossom into a striking naked eye object visible even in broad daylight.

Source: Comet of the Century? - NASA Science

Source: A "Dream Comet" Heading Our Way? - Observing Blog - SkyandTelescope.com




Source: NASA's Deep Impact Spacecraft Eyes Comet ISON

Orbital elements & Ephemeris: C/2012 S1 (ISON)
MPEC 2012-S63 : COMET C/2012 S1 (ISON)

There will be more information on Comet ISON as we draw closer to October, and November.

To help in determining your sky conditions for either comet:
ClearDarkSky


May you have Clear Skies!

Thanks a bunch for the heads up Anak! I will be on the lookout.

Thanks Anak I posted about ISON a while ago and was wondering what the go was - just hope it will be seen as well down here:)

LittleJay said:

Thanks a bunch for the heads up Anak! I will be on the lookout.

Your welcome!

Now don't forget, The lowest Minnesota State line Latitude I can find is about 3.3° higher than mine in Pennsylvania (40.28°N), so, the graphic from Sky&Telescope will be about 1/2 to 1 day later than what I would see.

You may already understand this, but let me try to explain; It all depends from which direction the event approaches Earth.

Since you reside on a higher degree of the Earth's latitude, it takes longer for observations to enter into your view, if the event is coming from the Southern Hemisphere.

If the event was originally coming from the Northern Hemisphere and heading South, we would see it before the Southern Members of our Forum.
In any event, I'll let you know the first instance I see it!

We should be able to see the tail a few days before we can see the nucleus, the actual body of the comet.

ICit2lol said:

Thanks Anak I posted about ISON a while ago and was wondering what the go was - just hope it will be seen as well down here:)

Your welcome John.

I don't if you've seen theses sites, but I hope they will help:
Will Comet ISON put on a show from the southern hemisphere near the end of 2013? | Sydney Observatory

This one's for PanSTARRS:
Astroblog: Viewing Comet C/2011 PanSTARRS in the Southern Hemisphere

It is coming close to the end for PanSTARRS in the Southerhn Hemisphere. When ISON gets closer you may find that Ian, from the astroblog, will be concentrating on it.

I like his disclaimer... Be careful out there, I'm not your mum.


Anak....aka....Steve

It's getting to be that time when observers in the Northern Hemisphere will have a chance to see Comet PANSTARRS. It will be very helpful if you have an unobstructed view of the Western horizon.

To give you a better understanding of where to look the following simulations (sim(s)) are screenshots taken from my Stellarium, 0.12.0 planetarium program.

You can find information on the position of the comet in the upper left-hand corner of the sim.
For compass readings look to the ninth and tenth entries from the top after the title called Az/Alt | explanation These are coordinates to help you find your direction of view.

• Azimuth matches readings on a compass.
• Altitude is how high in degrees the object is above the horizon. 10° is approximately the width of a man's hand held out at arms length. (Tip:your thumb should be facing up.)
• PANSTARRS will be the white dot in the center of the red reticle
• In each sim you will see the date progress, but the time will remain at 20:00hours est, this correlates to 8pm est.
• The second and third sims will be helpful as they give you a better reference point with the Moon as a guide.
• By the 26th PANSTARRS will be almost out of view, and you will notice the evening sky becoming lighter. Daylight Savings Time will go into effect on March 10th 2013 for most of the US.
• Additional Information: If you notice a difference in the Moon phase between the sims and the skyplot image I posted in my OP, that is because of the zoom factor used. To give you a better perspective I may have only succeeded in confusing you, the Azimuth remains almost due West at 269°. See fifth sim.
• There are observers that make a hobby of trying to view the newest of new Moon's: Moon Watch :: An Einstein Year Project
• These sims are plotted for 40.28°N Latitude if yours is higher you will see PANSTARRS lower, conversely if yours is lower you see PANSTARRS higher in the sky.

First up: March 10th 2013 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ March 12th
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March 13th ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ March 26th
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March 12th with increased magnification.



For more information on:
Astronomical Concepts - Stellarium Wiki

I will be posting more on Comet ISON as we get closer to the middle of Fall here in the Northern Hemisphere.

May you have clear skies, and good viewing

Anak

I found another visibility aide to help find PANSTARRS.
It steps through the next eleven days in the first 30sec., then three quicker runs to March 25th:

Will be/am keeping my eyes (and binoculars) peeled!

I hope you have better luck than I am having, its been cloudy each evening so far.

Anak said:

I found another visibility aide to help find PANSTARRS.
It steps through the next eleven days in the first 30sec., then three quicker runs to March 25th:

Hum nice clip Anak that is the northern hemisphere I take it? am just wondering how to see it down here in the south:)

IC, I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but now that PANSTARRS is viewable in the Northern hemisphere it is no longer visible in the South. Your time was from the Holidays last year to the end of February.

For more on this scroll down to right before the comments section:

Jan. 12, 2013: Comet falling behind predictions? Now that Comet PanSTARRS is out of conjunction with the Sun for Southern Hemisphere observers,

Source: Updates on Comet PanSTARRS - SkyTel Beyond the Page - SkyandTelescope.com