Comet PAN-STARRS

 

I have been anticipating comet PAN-STARRS for a couple of months now. I dragged Landis out on 3 separate occasions to attempt to view it. On our 3rd attempt we went later than normal and thought we may have missed it. It wasn’t until I thought hey, the camera picks up more light then we can see, so, maybe? So I pointed the camera in the general area I thought it should be and left the shutter open for a minute. Sure enough there it was! So we couldn’t see it with our naked eyes, but once we determined exactly where it was we were able to see it with binoculars and I was able to get a couple shots of it.

So, not the best images in the world, but I am just thrilled I have finally seen my first comet.

Now PAN-STARRS was awesome, but apparently it’s got nothing on comet ISON expected sometime this fall. While comets are very hard to predict, astronomers are saying it may be as bright as the moon, or may even possibly be one we could see during the day!  I absolutely cannot wait to see this!

Although, I will take multiple comet discoverer David Levy’s famous quote to heart: "Comets are like cats; they have tails, and they do precisely what they want." In other words, hope for a great show, but understand it might decide to turn around and lick it’s butt.