Year of the Comet
Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS)

PANSTARRS information

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)

ISON information

Glenn Chaple's Observing Basics

Dance of the spirits

February 2013: Witnessing the glowing lights of aurorae makes patience and persistence worthwhile.
Contributed by Glenn Chaple
Published: December 21, 2012
ChapleGlenn
On a clear September night in 1971, I set up my telescope in anticipation of an hour or two of double-star observing from my home in Massachusetts. I had notched two pairs and was working on a third when the view in my eyepiece seemed to fog over. Glancing upward, I noticed a bright glow covering the northern sky. What happened next I described in my logbook entry for that evening:

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