Starship Asterisk*

PanSTARRS from France

Explanation: Still looking for that comet? Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4) naked-eye appearance in the northern hemisphere is described by successful comet spotters as a dim star with a faint tail. If you want to catch it the next few days could be your best bet. Start looking low and almost due west about 45 minutes after sunset. Of course, clear skies and a pair of binoculars should help a lot. Sky photographer Jean-Luc Dauvergne found suitable weather and western horizon for this comet and crescent Moon portrait after a road trip on March 13. Seeing PanSTARRS for the first time, he recorded the beautiful twilight scene with a telephoto lens near historical Alesia in France.

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AW HECK I don't speak french, and I've usually got horizon clouds in the west. I do have binoculars though. Well, one out of three isn't too bad. Maybe the cloud situation will improve and I'll get two out of three, and get to see the Pan of Starrs zipping by. Say, PanStarrs first name wouldn't happen to be Peter, would it

That's a really lovely image! In particular, the Moon looks splendid. The Moon was in its crescent phase that night, so the dark but Earth-shine lit part of it is brought out in magnificent detail in this picture. The comet looks great too.

Ann

Not to spoil the mood here, but why does today's photo show a FULL moon? Is this a fake photo or a test?

J Gardner wrote:Not to spoil the mood here, but why does today's photo show a FULL moon? Is this a fake photo or a test?

Like I said in my post above, it is NOT a full Moon. A full Moon in a picture like this one would have been overexposed, white-looking and featureless. It is a crescent Moon. You can see the brilliant white and overexposed crescent in the lower part of the Moon. The rest of the Moon is lit by Earthshine. Here you can see a picture of the Moon lit by Earthshine.

Ann

This is a beautiful image
Fantastic colors.

Great image, with comet and moon!

Ah me; I looked at dusk and saw nothing! Well I saw the moon. I went to Hy Vee at dusk; and in the few minutes I was inside, it had gotten dark outside! So maybe I missed it in between! For me It's a good thing we have APOD with all their pictures!

Hello,

I was of the travel, here is a time laps of the cometset from the same location,
unfortunatly the moon is just out of the window


Francois

Francois Colas wrote:I was of the travel, here is a time laps of the cometset from the same location,
unfortunatly the moon is just out of the window.

Hi Francois- note that this comet is C/2011 L4, not C/2012.

Went out last night, could not find it...is it naked eye????
We do not have a clear horizon. Many tree block the way at the west end of the street....


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Francois Colas....GREAT SHOT!!!!!

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Boomer12k wrote:Went out last night, could not find it...is it naked eye????
We do not have a clear horizon. Many tree block the way at the west end of the street....

It is naked eye if you have clear, transparent skies and know where to look. It is easily missed, however. What I find works is to locate it first with binoculars, which is easy (if you are looking in about the right place), and then to find it visually without using the binoculars.

It takes very little haze to brighten up the sky enough that you can't find the comet. It should be easy in the few minutes before setting, but that presumes you have a very low western horizon.

Very nice photo, tranquil is the word I would use. We have had clouds every evening.

My apologies, Ann, (and everyone else) I re-read the discussion. That's what I get for trying to enter a discussion before I've had coffee. Mea culpa.
And yes, fantastic photo!
-Joe

Whhooo, awesome shot! Can't see the comet from where I am... (yet ))

bravo jean luc, belle prise !!