Have you looked up, scratched your head, and wondered where that
"bright" comet is hiding?
It's very challenging to see - and in binoculars it it is very
small, as you can see in my sketches linked below. The circles
represent the binocular field of view of either 5 or 7 degrees. The
entire comet is about 1/2 of a degree long. Tonight, the 1 day old
moon can be used as an arrow pointing to the comet, if you can find
the slender Cheshire cat smile of a moon, that is.
The moon will be found 5.6 degrees to the right of the comet
tonight, and 10 degrees above the comet tomorrow night.
Sunset tonight is at 6:57, and it will take about 25 minutes for the
sun to set down 6 degrees, to the time called civil twilight -
Evening civil twilight begins at sunset and ends when the geometric
center of the sun reaches 6° below the horizon. Start scanning the
sky about 8-10 degrees above the horizon at about 7:15, and keep
looking until you either find the comet, or you don't.
Here is my sketch of the comet from 25 miles up Angeles Crest
(Chileo turnout) just before the Caltrans yard last night. This is a
good spot facing west.
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2013/03/12/my-first-view-of-comet-panstarrs-31113/
and here is our Comet PanSTARRS resource page, which includes a good
map and my "What's Up, PanSTARRS Edition" podcast.
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/scitech/display.cfm?ST_ID=2538
Happy comet hunting, everybody!
Jane
--
Jane Houston Jones
Monrovia, CA
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/ http://twitter.com/jhjones
What's Up For March? Will Comet Pan-STARRS be bright?
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/whatsup-archive.cfm
Youtube: http://bit.ly/14aXhTB
2013 At A Glance
http://jane.whiteoaks.com/2013/01/07/whats-up-in-2013-at-a-glance/