What are your plans for viewing comet PanSTARR over the next week or so?

Thankfully, they are predicting a clear evening here in NJ tonight. I hope to be able to see it. I read a post elsewhere that says it should be visible just to the left of the setting sun. I have a pretty good angle on sunset from the master bedroom window. We don’t have any good hills nearby, and I don’t know that it’ll be worth driving a half-hour or more to go see.

I haven’t checked if any planetarium or astronomical clubs nearby are doing anything, though…

Should be visible to the naked eye.

It’s supposed to be clear here, so I’ll be looking for it. Thanks for the reminder!

This is the first time I have heard about it! Thanks for the information though, I’ll be looking for it.

One of the downsides of living in a major metropolitan area like Boston is that star gazing only works for truly bright objects. On the other hand, we have a wealth of observatories outside the light pollution reach of the metro area. So there will be great pictures on the evening news. The local meteorologists are great about alerting us to such events, and gathering photos from nearby resources for those who can’t drive to a good vantage point beyond the city lights.

We won’t have a clear sky until Tuesday. I’m hoping I still have a chance to view it then.

Here’s a simulation of what it will look from the US west coast, stacking 10 successive nights. This is probably as close to actually viewing the comet as I’ll get. I live in pacific northwest—right now it’s fog & mist in every direction.

Will wait until they post footage on YouTube

After my disappointment with Kehoutek, which was built up to be ‘the comet for the ages’ I think I’ll wait until someone posts it on YouTube.

@Rarebear: What’s estimated brightest apparent magnitude?

Will it be visible from western Canada?

Thank the world for YouTube!

@Plucky: Yes. Same caveats about observing as in the states. Find a clear unobstructed view to the wsw – w – wnw- thirty minutes after sunset. Try to find dark skies away from ambient lights of city, and sweep the western horizon with binocs…particularly the area left of the sun’s setting.

@gailcalled Thank you!

I’ll be watching for it if we have clear skies.

Cloud cover tonight. The weather for the rest of the week looks disappointing as well.

Too much light pollution here. Here’s a great short video on what light pollution really does. It’s not just a minor annoyance.

Went out today and managed to grab a picture of it. When I’m done figuring out which picture is the least crappy I’ll change my avatar to it.

Our area of the country has seen sunlight twice in the past 3 weeks. The second day of sunlight was this morning. By noon we had moderate snow showers, then heavy snow at sunset. I’m disappointed I missed my chance to view the comet.

I’m looking forward to seeing the picture @Rarebear!

Me too, @Rarebear; We have had heavy rain and cloud cover since late Sunday afternoon. Very disappointing.

@Rarebear, How easy was it to see with the naked eye? Anything to write home about or the usual blurry mothball. Was there a tail?

@jonsblond @gailcalled It’s a very sucky picture. here is a dropbox link to the full .jpg. Bottom middle.

It’s absolutely impossible to see with the naked eye. This was a 5 second exposure.

^^^ Not bad. And it was just where the star charts said it would be. What is the viewing like in general where you are? Dark skies, ambient light pollution?

Not bad? It’s horrible, but thanks anyway. You see the clouds and the crappy focus. It’s probably the worse astrophoto I’ve ever taken, but I took it and I’m done.

Light pollution isn’t really the issue per se as it’s low in the sky and the sun blows out any light pollution of the city.

Your photo is the first view I’ve had. I enjoyed looking at it. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Here’s a pretty picture from the Mount Dale Observatory in Western Australia, shot March 10, 2013.

Slate Magazine published these amazing photos and videos today. A few lucky people here and there were able to capture beautiful images of the celestial show.

@ETpro: This is indeed stunning, juxtaposed with the old moon in the new moon’s arms. Thanks.

We haven’t had a single clear evening since the first week in March, when viewing became possible. White-out snow fall here now as I write.

@gailcalled Yeah, ten inches here. It just quit snowing around midnight and the moon finally broke through. Clear tomorrow, but I think we have two more coastal storms to deal with over the next week.

neener neener