We’ve got a space alert for the star watchers among our readers.
It isn’t often that a comet is visible to the naked eye, however, Comet PanSTARRS (not to be confused with Pawn Stars) is going to be visible in the Northern Hemisphere for a few more nights still. And up here in Woodstock, IL, it looks like the best night to get a glimpse is going to be tonight.
You see, a few of the star watchers on our team were stymied last night by the cloud coverage. But tonight’s forecast is calling for clear skies.
Your best bet for viewing the comet is going to be about a half hour after sunset when the comet should be visible to the naked eye just to the left of the moon (although a pair of binoculars would definitely make it easier to see).
“Look too early and the sky will be too bright,” according to Rachel Stevenson, a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at JPL. “Look too late, the comet will be too low and obstructed by the horizon. This comet has a relatively small window.”
If any of you astrophotographers out there take some pictures, we’d love to see and share your photos of this celestial event. You can either link to them in the comments below, or email them to social@macsales.com and we’ll add them to the comments for you.
Well, weather was clear by us, so I went out to look. Didn’t see it with the naked eye, but going through the photos… well whaddya know?
(click for a larger image)