2013 comets Archives

As Comet 2011 L4 PanSTARRS moves out of the inner solar system, we’ve got another comet coming into view this month for northern hemisphere observers.

Comet C/2012 F6 Lemmon is set to become a binocular object low to the southeast at dawn for low northern latitudes in the first week of April. And no, this isn’t an April Fools’ Day hoax, despite the comet’s name. Comet Lemmon (with two m’s) was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Sky Survey (MLSS) based outside of Tucson, Arizona on March 23, 2012. MLSS is part of the Catalina Sky Survey which searches for Near Earth Asteroids. We’ve got another comet coming into view this month for northern hemisphere observers as Comet 2011 L4 PanSTARRS moves out of the inner solar system.

The comet is on an extremely long elliptical orbit, with a period of over 11,000 years. Comet Lemmon just passed perihelion at 0.74 astronomical units from the Sun on March 24^th.

Animation of Comet Lemmon as it passes the star Gamma Crucis on January 17th. (Courtesy of Luis Argerich. Used with permission).

Southern hemisphere observers have been getting some great views of Comet Lemmon since the beginning of this year. It passed only three degrees from the south celestial pole on February 5^th, and since that time has been racing up the “0 Hour” line in right ascension. If that location sounds familiar, that’s because another notable comet, 2011 L4 PanSTARRS has been doing the same. In fact, astrophotographers in the southern hemisphere were able to catch both comets in the same field of view last month.

Another celestial body occupies 0 Hour neighborhood this time of year. The Sun just passed the vernal equinox marking the start of Spring in the northern hemisphere and Fall in the southern on March 19^th.

And like PanSTARRS, Comet Lemmon has a very steep orbit inclined 82.6° relative to the ecliptic.

The steep path and current position of Comet Lemmon. (Credit: NASA/JPL' Small-Body Database Browser). — The steep path and current position of Comet Lemmon. (Credit: NASA/JPL’ Small-Body Database Browser).

Comet Lemmon broke naked-eye visibility reaching +6^th magnitude in late February and has thus far closely matched expectations. Current reports place it at magnitude +4 to +5 as it crosses northward through the constellation Cetus. Predictions place the maximum post-perihelion brightness between magnitudes +3 and +5 in early April, and thus far, Comet Lemmon seems to be performing right down the middle of this range.

Brightness graph for Comet Lemmon for the months surrounding perihelion. (Created by author).

Southern observers have caught a diffuse greenish 30” in diameter nucleus on time exposures accompanied by a short, spikey tail. Keep in mind, the quoted brightness of a comet is extended over its entire surface area. Thus, while a +4^th magnitude star may be easily visible in the dawn, a 3^rd or even 2^nd magnitude comet may be invisible to the unaided eye. Anyone who attempted to spot Comet PanSTARRS in the dusk last month knows how notoriously fickle it actually was. Binoculars are your friend in this endeavor. Begin slowly sweeping the southeast horizon about an hour before local sunrise looking for a fuzzy “star” that refuses to reach focus. Comet Lemmon will get progressively easier in the dawn sky for latitudes successively farther north as the month of April progresses.

The apparent path of Comet Lemmon for April looking southeast about an hour before local sunrise from latitude 30 degrees north. (Created by the Author using Starry Night). — The apparent path of Comet Lemmon for April 10th through the 30th looking east about an hour before local sunrise from latitude 30 degrees north. (Created by the Author using Starry Night).

Comet Lemmon will continue to gain elevation as it crosses from Cetus into the constellation Pisces on April 13^th. An interesting grouping occurs as the planet Mercury passes only a few degrees from the comet from April 15^th to April 17^th. Having just past greatest elongation on March 31^st, Mercury will shine at magnitude -0.1 and make a good guide to locate the comet in brightening dawn skies. The pair is joined by the waning crescent Moon on the mornings of April 7^th and 8^thwhich may also provide for the first sighting opportunities from low north latitudes around these dates.

The Moon reaches New phase on Wednesday, April 10^th at 5:35AM EDT/9:35 UT. It will be out of the morning sky for the next couple of weeks until it reaches Full on April 25^th, at which point it will undergo the first eclipse of 2013, a very shallow partial. (More on that later this month!)

Comet Lemmon will then slide across the celestial equator on April 20^th and cross the plane of the ecliptic on April 22^nd as it heads up into the constellation Andromeda in mid-May. We’re expecting Comet Lemmon to be a fine binocular object for late April, but perhaps not as widely observed due to its morning position as PanSTARRS was in the dusk.

By mid-May, Comet Lemmon will have dipped back down below +6^th magnitude and faded out of interest to all but a few deep sky enthusiasts. Comet Lemmon will pass within 10° of the north celestial pole on August 9^th, headed back out into the icy depths of the solar system not to return for another 11,000-odd years.

It’s interesting to see how these two springtime comets will effect observers expectations for the passage of Comet C/2012 S1 ISON. Will this in fact be the touted “Comet of the Century?” Much hinges on whether ISON survives its November 28^th perihelion only 1,166,000 kilometers from the center of our Sun (that’s 0.68 solar-radii or about 3 times the Earth-Moon distance from the surface of the Sun). If so, we could be in for a fine “Christmas Comet” rivaling the passage of Comet Lovejoy in late 2011. On the other hand, a disintegration of Comet ISON would be more akin to the fizzle of Comet Elenin earlier in 2011.

In the meantime, enjoy Comet Lemmon as an Act 2 in the 2013 Three Act “Year of the Comet!”

The first of three bright comets anticipated in 2013 became visible to North American observers this past weekend. Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS is now currently visible low to the southwest at dusk, if you know exactly where to look for it.

Observers in the southern hemisphere have been enjoying this comet for the past few weeks as it reached naked eye visibility above 6^th magnitude around late February and began its long trek northward. Comet PanSTARRS is on a 106,000+ year orbit with a high inclination of 84.2° with respect to the ecliptic. This also means that PanSTARRS is currently moving roughly parallel to the “0 Hour” line in Right Ascension (The same point occupied by the Sun during next week’s Vernal Equinox on March 20^th) and is only slowly gaining elevation on successive evenings.

CometPANSTARRS from Michael Zeiler on Vimeo.

Observers in Hawaii and Mexico picked up PanSTARRS late last week, and scattered reports of sightings from the southern continental United States started trickling in Saturday night on the evening of March 9^th. We managed to grab Comet PanSTARRS low to the southwest on Sunday evening on March 10^th, about 30 minutes after local sunset.

Comet PanSTARRS seen from Hudson Florida on the evening of March 10th (Photo by Author).

We were surprised by the star-like appearance of the coma, about +1^stto 2^nd magnitude with a tiny fan-shaped tail. The comet was visible in binoculars only (I used our trusty pair of Canon 15×45 Image-Stabilized binocs for the task) and I couldn’t yet pick out the comet with the naked eye.

Several sightings westward followed. Clay Davis based in Santa Fe, New Mexico noted a visual magnitude of -0.5, saying that PanSTARRS was “Brighter than Mars” at magnitude +1 but “A challenge to keep in view.” Note that observer estimations of the brightness of comets can vary based on local sky conditions. Also, unlike a pinpoint star, the brightness of comets extends over its visible surface area, much like a faint nebula. The first sightings of the comet for many observers has been contingent on the weather, which can trend towards overcast for much of North America in early March. From our +28.5° northern latitude vantage point here just north of Tampa Bay Florida we had about a 10 minute window from when the sky was dark enough to spy PanSTARRS before it set below the local horizon.

Here are a few more images from Universe Today readers:

Comet Pan-STARRS as imaged by Robert Sparks (@HalfAstro) on the night of March 10th from Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved, part of the Universe Today photo gallery. — Comet PanSTARRS as imaged by Robert Sparks (@HalfAstro) on the night of March 10th from Tucson, Arizona. All Rights Reserved, part of the Universe Today photo gallery.

First views of Comet PANSSTARRS from Tucson, Arizona. Credit and copyright: Adam Block/Mount Lemmon SkyCenter.

Comet PANSTARRS from Puerto Rico on March 10, 2013. Credit and copyright: Efrain Morales.

To see the comet we suggest;

A clear uncluttered southwestern horizon;
A reasonably clear sky;
Binoculars.

First naked eye sightings of the comet for U.S. and European latitudes should be forthcoming over the next few evenings. PanSTARRS just passed perihelion yesterday on March 10^th at 0.3 Astronomical Units from the Sun (or 46.5 million kilometres, just inside the orbit of Mercury).

Comet PanSTARRS looking west at 8PM EDT from latitude 30 degrees north. (Created by the author using Starry Night). — Comet PanSTARRS looking west at 8PM EDT the evening of March 12th from latitude 30 degrees north. (Created by the author using Starry Night).

And Comet PanSTARRS may put on its best show over the next few nights. The Moon reaches New phase today at 3:51PM EDT/ 19:51 UT and starts lunation number 1116. On the next few evenings, the slim crescent Moon will slide by Comet PanSTARRS. Look for the 2% illuminated Moon 5° to the lower right of the comet on the evening of Tuesday March 12^th. On the next evening, the 5% illuminated Moon will be 9° above Comet PanSTARRS on Wednesday, March 13^th. The age of the Moon will be 28 hours old on Tuesday evening and 52 hours on Wednesday the 13^th respectively, an easy catch. The Moonwatch website is a great place to check for those early lunar crescent sighting possibilities worldwide. Note that Comet PanSTARRS also passes less than 30’ from the planet Uranus (about the diameter of the Full Moon) on the evening of the 12^th at 8 PM EDT/24UT. +6^th magnitude Uranus may just be visible near the head of the comet using binoculars or a small telescope. Keep in mind, they just appear to be close as seen from our Earthly vantage point. PanSTARRS is currently 1.1 A.U.s from the Earth, while Uranus is on the other side of the solar system at 21 A.U.s distant!

Comet PanSTARRS looking west at 8PM EDT from latitude 30 degrees north on the evening of March 13th. (Created by the author using Starry Night).

PanSTARRS also crosses the Celestial Equator today on March 11^th and the Ecliptic on March 13^th. Observers from dark sky sites may get the added bonus of the zodiacal light, a true photographic opportunity!

Spacecraft studying the Sun are also giving us views of Comet PanSTARRS from a different perspective. NASA’s twin STEREO A & B spacecraft are positioned to monitor the Sun from different vantage points along the Earth’s orbit. Often, they see comets as an added bonus. Comet PanSTARRS has just moved into the field of view of STEREO-B’s Heliospheric Imager and has given us amazing views of the comet and the Earth in the distance over the past week.

The view of Comet PanSTARRS from NASA's STEREO Behind observatory. (Credit: NASA/SECCHI). — The view of Comet PanSTARRS from NASA’s STEREO Behind observatory. (Credit: NASA/SECCHI).

From STEREO, the remarkable fan-shaped dust tail of PanSTARRS stands out in profile. The dust tail of a comet always points away from the Sun. Driven by the solar wind, a comet’s tail is actually in front of it as it heads back out of the solar system! An ultimate animation of Comet PanSTARRS just came to our attention today via @SungrazerComets on Twitter;

Animation of comet 2011 L4 PanSTARRS entering STEREO-B's HI camera, note the twin ion/dust tail reminiscent of Hale-Bopp! (Credit: NASA/STEREO/NRL). — Animation of comet 2011 L4 PanSTARRS entering STEREO-B’s HI camera, note the twin ion/dust tail reminiscent of Hale-Bopp! (Credit: NASA/STEREO/NRL).

As of this writing, PanSTARRS seems to be performing as per predictions with an observed magnitude of around +1. The comet will continue on its northward trek, becoming a circumpolar object for observers based around latitude 50° north on April 2nd. Comet PanSTARRS should dip back below +6^th magnitude around April 15th.

Comet PanSTARRS as imaged by Mike Weasner from Cassiopeia Observatory in southern Arizona on the night of March 10th. Used with permission.

But this is but Act One in a forecasted three act cometary saga for 2013. Comet C/2012 F6 Lemmon will grace early dawn skies in April for northern hemisphere observers, and then all eyes will be on Comet C/2012 S1 ISON for the hoped for grand finale later this year. Interestingly, ESA’s Solar Heliospheric Observatory will get a look at this sungrazing comet as it passes through its LASCO C3 camera’s field of view. Clear skies, and may 2013 go down as the Year of the Comet!

-Check out photos of Comet PanSTARRS and more being added daily to the Universe Today’s Flickr gallery.

Tag: 2013 comets

Comet Lemmon: A Preview Guide for April

Update: Comet PANSTARRS Makes Its Northern Hemisphere Debut