Comet Pan-STARRS April 1 to April 6, 2013

panstarrs-apr1-apr6-13.
Comet Pan-STARRS Early Morning, April 1 to April 6, 2013.

As of this writing, this is what we have in store for Comet Pan-STARRS down here in southern Louisiana.   Its evening viewing period is almost totally dominated by twilight, so the morning part of the comet’s apparition is what I’ll be concentrating on, now.

On April 1st it will be low at the start of strong twilight about 80 minutes before sunrise.  This point is about the limit for shooting images because of the encroaching twilight, so any images need to be shot before then.    It will be only 4 degrees or so above the horizon, so it will be very difficult if the sky conditions are not right.   Conditions improve somewhat by April 6, 2013, so I think I stand a better chance then.   At 5:30 am, the beginning of astronomical twilight, the comet will be over 7 degrees high, which improves my chances considerably for getting usable images.   If I start shooting then, I have about 10 minutes to shoot before strong twilight gets me.   lol   😀

BTW, that big object the comet is passing is the Andromeda Galaxy.   The first images of this get together are already coming in as I type this and some are spectacular!   Most of these were taken in the evening from northern latitudes where the comet is higher in the sky and twilight is not as bad in the evenings as it is here.   You can see one of these images and more at Spaceweather.com.

One thought on “Comet Pan-STARRS April 1 to April 6, 2013”

  1. Well, its the morning of April 6, 2013 and I still haven’t been able to shoot images of Comet Panstarrs. Clouds have kept me from seeing the comet again since I last imaged it back in March. I might have a chance to image it on the morning of April 8th, but I’m not holding my breath.

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