PANSTARRS: CAS Members get in on the act!

Finally we are having some success in the Cockermouth area viewing the elusive comet PANSTARRS. With the forecast looking good for the next few nights and the moon rising late in the evening there is still plenty of opportunity to get out there and find it.

A couple of CAS Members have reported sucess;

Phil comments;

Got it! Saw it this evening (28 March) just after 8pm. Quite close to M31 and just a bit brighter. A classic comet, with a fairly well defined nucleus and fan tail, pointing upwards away from the horizon. I found it with the help of the chart here 

Well worth looking for if the next few nights are clear. 

Phil

Robin managed to capture this image from his garden;

C/2011 L4 Panstarrs: Robin Leadbeater (Stack of 10 images)

Robin says;

Still an easy binocular object, visible from around 19:45 UT using alpha and beta Andromedae (Alpheratz and Mirach) as pointers, visible well before the comet). This snapshot (stack of 10 images)  taken from the back garden at 20:24 UT  27-3-2013

I've seen the comet on the past two evenings. A really nice sight last night (28th March) when the sky was darker before the moon had risen. Very clear in my 15 x 70 binocular and also visible in a small pair of 10 x 35 binoculars.


Don't forget there is plenty of advice and updates on PANSTARRS over at Stuart Atkinson's 'Waiting for ISON' blog on the dedicated PANSTARRS page.

When you find it, why not leave a comment on this post?

Good luck and clear skies,