Although Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) is past its peak, which occurred in early March, it still remains a worthy target this spring.
In April, target the comet through binoculars or a small telescope. It passes 2.5° west of the Andromeda Galaxy on the 3rd and then crosses into Cassiopeia on the 9th. By month's end, Comet PANSTARRS stands 57° north-northwest of the Sun and lies in Cepheus. Because of its position, it remains above the horizon all night for observers north of latitude 23° north.
During May and June, Comet PANSTARRS continues to diminish in brightness, but it also never sets during this time for most locations in the United States.
Scroll down for the latest tips, observations, and images.
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Follow Comet PANSTARRS' northern trek after it enounters the Sun with the help of this chart. With each passing day, its distance from our daytime star increases. // Astronomy: Richard Talcott and Roen Kelly
Comet PANSTARRS will be a nice binocular target and look impressive through small telescopes in April as its higher position in the night sky assures lots of great views.
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Borut Prasnikar captured Comet PANSTARRS from Krizna Gora, Slovenia. He subtracted some of the background to show the comet's tail structure better.
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Astroimager Richard McCoy from Mead, Colorado, captured Comet PANSTARRS through a 4-inch telescope.
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Noted asto-sketcher Jeremy Perez recorded his observations of Comet PANSTARRS from Elk City, Oklahoma.
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Frequent contributor John Chumack catches a chance alignment while imaging from Valley Forge National Park. Learn about his observing session in Assistant Editor Karri Ferron's blog.
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Astroimager Miguel Claro captured Comet PANSTARRS from Almada near Lisbon, Portugal.
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Longtime Astronomy magazine contributor Chris Schur obtained a more close-up image of Comet PANSTARRS from Payson, Arizona.
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Longtime
Astronomy magazine contributor Bob Fera captured Comet PANSTARRS from Foresthill, California.
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Raymond Maher shot Comet PANSTARRS from Belleplain State Forest, New Jersey.
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Brian A. Morganti captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS near Bernville, Pennsylvania, about an hour after sunset.
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Kevin Witman captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS through his telescope in Cochranville, Pennsylvania. See the gallery »
Randall H. Suslick from Chase City, Virginia, took this shot of Comet PANSTARRS on March 14. See the gallery »
Senior Editor Michael Bakich shares Jeremy Perez's great sketch of Comet PANSTARRS from observations he made March 13.
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"Mr. Eclipse" Fred Espanek created another time-lapse movie of Comet PANSTARRS, this time as it set from Antelope Pass, Arizona. Watch the video »
Senior Editor Michael E. Bakich blogs about a successful observing session of Comet PANSTARRS from Milwaukee on March 13.
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Astroimager Tony Rowell captured Comet PANSTARRS from California's Mojave Desert.
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European imager Javier Falcón Quintana imaged Comet PANSTARRS from the mountains of Gran Canaria, Spain, reporting that the comet is brighter each night and noticeably increasing the length of its visible tail.
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Bill Wilburn from Oklahoma City captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS on March 12. See the gallery »
Marana, Arizona, astroimager Alistair Symon captured Comet PANSTARRS.
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Frequent contributor Tunç Tezel captured Comet PANSTARRS from near Karacabey, Bursa, Turkey. From his longitude, the Moon set too early to be caught.
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Frequent contributor John Chumack captured Comet PANSTARRS during a break in a snowstorm above Indianapolis.
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Astronomy magazine image contributor Babak Tafreshi captured Comet PANSTARRS from the observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands.
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Joe Shuster captured Comet PANSTARRS and the Moon in a cloudy sky from Salem, Missouri.
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Longtime
Astronomy magazine contributor Chris Schur from Payson, Arizona, captured Comet PANSTARRS enveloped in a colorful Arizona sunset.
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Richard McCoy from Mead, Colorado, captured Comet PANSTARRS near the thin crescent Moon on March 12.
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Ahmad Alromeadheen was at the Santa Susanna Pass in southern California to capture Comet PANSTARRS and the crescent Moon.
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"Mr. Eclipse" Fred Espanek created a time-lapse movie of Comet PANSTARRS as it set from Simon, Arizona.
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Ajay Talwar was at Devasthal Observatory, Uttarakhand, India, when he took this sequence that shows Comet PANSTARRS setting.
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Scott Kardel, managing director of the International Dark Sky Association, captured Comet PANSTARRS on March 11 near Tucson, Arizona.
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Longtime celestial imager Christopher Go from Cebu City, Philippines, captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS on March 11.
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World-famous astroimager Adam Block captured Comet PANSTARRS from Tucson, Arizona, on March 10.
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Colorado astroimager Richard McCoy captured Comet PANSTARRS on Sunday, March 10, despite bright twilight and threatening clouds below.
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The most recent magnitude estimates put Comet PANSTARRS at around 1st magnitude, considerably brighter than it was a week ago and approaching the optimistic forecasts from a few months back. Those of us in the Northern Hemisphere may get our first views this evening.
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The long wait is nearly over. Northern Hemisphere skygazers haven’t seen a bright comet with a long tail since Comet Hale-Bopp graced the night sky in 1997. But if predictions hold, Comet PANSTARRS should be a nice naked-eye object and look impressive through binoculars after sunset starting in the second week of March. Learn more»
Senior Editor Richard Talcott provides a detailed overview Comet PANSTARRS, from its discovery and how it got its name to what to expect each week of the celestial visitor this spring.
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A few days ago, SPACE.com correspondent Miriam Kramer and I discussed a lot of cometary stuff, from ISON to PANSTARRS, to other things, and today Miriam posted a news story based on our discussion.
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David Psaila from Sydney, Australia, captured Comet PANSTARRS the evening of March 5 from a cemetery.
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Astronomy magazine columnist Steve O’Meara is currently traveling in Botswana, a country in southern Africa. Early the morning of March 6, he emailed an update of his observations of Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4).
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Guillermo Abramson captured Comet PANSTARRS above the city of Bariloche and Mt. Catedral, in Argentina on March 3.
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Yuri Beletsky shot a 30-second exposure that shows both Comet PANSTARRS and Comet Lemmon in the same sky. He took the photograph just after sunset February 28 from the Atacama Desert.
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Astroimager Ignacio Diaz Bobillo captured Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) through a 5.2-inch refractor by using a DSLR set at ISO 1000. He took a total of eight 2-minute exposures. To show the background stars, he used three of the exposures. For the comet, however, he stacked all eight images and used software to remove the stars, which changed their positions because of Earth’s rotation.
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Luis Argerich from Buenos Aires, Argentina, captured Comet PANSTARRS in
the sky above Mercedes, Argentina, on February 11, 2013. The comet shone
at magnitude 4.5 to the left of an Iridium flare.
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Southern-sky viewers have all the luck this month, as it should brighten to naked-eye visibility in the constellation Piscis Austrinus.
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A dazzling comet can ignite a viewer’s passion better than almost any other celestial object. Those flames could burn bright in March for seasoned observers and novices alike.
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Stephen James O'Meara invites you to take March's observing opportunity of Comet PANSTARRS to test out your eyes' color receptors.
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Check out the March 2013 issue of
Astronomy for a complete rundown of the brightest comet in six years.
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In June 2011, it's some 700 million miles (1.2 billion kilometers) from the Sun, but Comet PANSTARRS will move toward perihelion, its closest point to our star, in March 2013, when it will be visible low in the western sky after sunset.
Learn more »Astronomers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa discovered a new comet that they expect will be visible to the naked eye in early 2013.
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