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[magic612]

I don't mean with respect to it's magnitude. The listed magnitude I see at Harvard's Minor Planet Center indicate something between magnitude 1 and 0 from March 5 through the 14. That should make it a fairly bright comet.

What I'm concerned about is how low it will be to see. Look at fellow CA Curt Renz's chart here:

curtrenz.com/comets17.html

Now compare it to Sky and Telescope's chart:

www.skyandtelescope.com/skytel/beyondthepage/185665152.html (Scroll down to bottom of page.)

Now, I've looked for Mercury down as low as 5 degrees above the horizon. I have VERY clear views to the west from where I live; I can see down almost to the horizon for most of it. I could BARELY see Mercury at 5 degrees on a GREAT night. And it's a point source of light. Plus I know what to look for, and exaclty where to look.

PANSTARRS will be spread out. And for the first days - through the 9th or so - it will be 5 degrees OR LESS above the horizon a mere 30 minutes after sunset. There's still a lot of twilight 30 minutes after the sun has dropped below the horizon. And at the comet's peak magnitude of 0.5 or so on the 9 / 10 / 11, it will still only be, at best, maybe 7 degrees up at 30 minutes past sunset. It drops a full magnitude in brightness by the 17th, at which point it will be all of 10 degrees up at 30 minutes past sunset.

Even 10 degrees over the horizon at that time can be hard to spot the point-source Mercury at the same magnitude. This is not to fault Curt at all - if anything, it is his chart that made me realize that we may wind up over-hyping this. The media is already saying, "NAKED EYE COMET!"

But are we REALLY going to see a "naked eye comet" that is a few degrees off the horizon, that will require SUPER transparent skies, a level horizon, and those who know exactly what they are looking for? At best, binoculars are going to be required, I think, and likely a decent telescope.

Thoughts?

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

I have stated from the start...

The "Brighter than the Moon" nonsense, just builds up false anticipation and makes all Astronomers look like hard up geeks. At 15 degrees, I don't even bother to point it out for Chicago Astronomer fans at our Star Parties at ISS passes....this one could be the same. a nice long tail might change things, but even so...

I'll have to contend with the City Skyline for this comet, but will follow it once it gains some altitude.

[magic612]

That's the thing Joe - based on Curt's and S&T's graphics, it won't exceed 15 degrees over the horizon until April 11 or so, and at that point, it will be magnitude 5.7.

For those of us who are "into" astronomy, sure, that's exciting as all heck. For the general public, I worry that this comet will be a disaster from a publicity standpoint.

[Centaur]

I’ve been suggesting for some time that the “Year of the Comets” may be something of a dud. Telescope companies and the astronomy media have been overly hyping the prospects in their own interests. Of course I would like to be pleasantly surprised. Everyone may have been, if not for the hype.

The worst case is for C/2012 S1 (ISON) much later this year. That’s the one for which the media are invoking Full Moon comparisons. It will be spectacularly bright only when too near the Sun to be viewed.

The problem we northocentric people have with C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) is that when at its brightest it’s more of a treat for southern hemisphere observers. Keep in mind that my chart is for N 41.866° and not 40° as with S&T. I realize that a chart for 30 minutes after sunset implies great optimism, but folks can allow for a drift of 1° to the lower right every 4 minutes. If depicted at a later time, the comet may be out of the picture in cases in which it might have been viewed earlier.

Originally I did not display horizontal charts for C/2012 F6 (Lemmon), since it’s even more of a southern hemisphere lurker when brightest and even then not so bright. I gave in after one of my website visitors kept insisting.

[magic612]

Curt, I did make daily charts for PANSTARRS last night, so that people can use them to judge / gauge where and when to see it over the course of 3 or 4 weeks. But mostly it will be interesting to those of us who find 8th magnitude comets exciting to see. Venus is a dazzling, -4.6 magnitude object - that is also visible during the day. But who gets excited about seeing Venus during the day? Only those who have it pointed out to them, and even then, it's not a dazzling sight.

PANSTARRS is going to be visible during daylight - well, the twilight of the setting Sun - so it's not going to be much more than a curiosity for those who have something more than a passing interest in astronomy. And I think it will be quite difficult to see for most of us, unless we have perfect western viewing conditions.

I agree - it's being overhyped. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about seeing it, but again, I get excited about seeing an 8th magnitude comet that most people would find pretty boring to see. I was going to make my video this coming week about PANSTARRS, until I really started digging into where it would be, and I thought, "As an experienced observer, even I would have a hard time seeing it this week!"

I hope it exceeds expectations, I really do. But I fear a lot of people will be put off by the overhyping.

[Paulie pchris00]

Having observed just four comets in my entire life (one of which was 1/P Halley, if that tells you anything), I don't get excited easily about comets. With all the hype, and the bad viewing conditions that Dave pointed out, I was ready to be disappointed by PANSTARRS, yet will look for it anyway. And I'm really not going to buy into the ISON hype just yet. It would have been better to have this comet be a pleasant surprise, rather than built up so much that it will surely disappoint.

[patrickm]

It's not disappointing in the Southern Hemisphere. Of course it remains to be seen up here.

Headed to Costa Rica on Friday and am very much anticipating the comets (and old friends Omega Centauri & Coal Sack). Having a running debate with self about travel scope v. binocs, and which binocs. May depend upon how things look when packed.

[magic612]

As I mentioned earlier, here's my new page with daily charts for Comet PanSTARRS. There are quite a few caveats on the page (some listed here in this thread), and instructions on where, how, and when to look. Hopefully these will help people find and see this object.

I have read a smattering of reports from experienced observers who have spotted it in the northern hemisphere already, very low to the horizon under near-perfect conditions. Since we have largely flat horizons around this area, it MAY be possible to see naked eye, and personally I am excited about it. But I got excited about an 8th magnitude smudge of a comet back in October too, so take it for what it's worth.

Here's the page, for anyone interested, which shoudl complement Curt's charts:

eyesonthesky.com/Blog/CometPANSTARRS.aspx