Many people have posted notes of the comet sighting.  My own view was from a Vermont hill on the 13th, the one evening with a clear westerly view.  A few people have reported seeing it with the unaided eye, but I was not one of them.  In 10-by-50 binoculars, the comet was clear with a narrow V-shaped tail.

Comet PanSTARRS will hover over the western horizon and each night will rise a bit into a darker sky so the chances of seeing it should improve. Try hunting for it with binoculars or a small telescope and after locating it, see if you can make it out without those aids.  Look a little to the right of due west and about 10 degrees (two widths of an outstretched hand) above the horizon.  You may be able to find it as early as 7:15.  It will be easier to see as the sky darkens but, depending on your location, it will drop behind the trees by 8 pm or so.

If the sky is clear after the comet has set, look for an aurora.  A solar flare on the 15th kicked a cloud of ionized particles in our direction.  As those particles encounter our planet’s magnetic field and dance in the fringes of the upper atmosphere, we could see the shimmering glow of an aurora. The most likely time to observe an aurora would be in the late evening on Sunday the 17th, ideally from a dark location away from houses or streetlights.  Allow several minutes for eyes to become adapted to the dark and dress for very cold weather.

And, yes, stargazers really have to be at least a little crazy, don’t they?


            Keep looking up!
            - Bob Hamlin
               <rhamlinatdartmouth.edu>
########################################################################

To unsubscribe from the STARGAZERS list, click the following link:
https://listserv.dartmouth.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=STARGAZERS