Comet PANSTARRS

Expert imager Damian Peach of Selsey, England, captured Comet PANSTARRS' dust and ion tails through a 4-inch refractor June 6. // Check out the full gallery here

Comet PANSTARRS started the "year of the comet" out with a bang. C/2011 L4 peaked around magnitude –1 when it swung into view after sunset during March. It was a lovely naked-eye comet in the evening sky and continued to be a great target for astroimagers well into the summer months. Check out all of the images photographers captured of Comet PANSTARRS below.

Observing Information

Comet PANSTARRS imaged as it recedes

Check out this fantastic picture of Comet PANSTARRS taken by Damian Peach of Selsey, England, on the morning of July 10, 2013. Learn more »

June 6 — Damian Peach

Expert imager Damian Peach captured Comet PANSTARRS' dust and ion tails through his 4-inch Takahashi FSQ-106 refractor. See the gallery »

May 28 — Bernhard Hubl

Frequent contributor Bernhard Hubl captured Comet PANSTARRS as it glowed at magnitude 9.3 through a 12-inch Newtonian reflector. See the gallery »

May 4 — Bob Gillette

Bob Gillette captured Comet PANSTARRS' green ion tail from central New Hampshire. See the gallery »

April 3 — Jamie Cooper

Longtime image contributor Jamie Cooper from Dustin, England, sent in this image of Comet PANSTARRS as it passed the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). See the gallery »

April 3 — Barry Burgess

Imager Barry Burgess captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS from New Canada, Nova Scotia, as it passed near the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). See the gallery »

March 21 — Larry Russell

Imager Larry Russell of East Peoria, Illinois, obtained this image of Comet PANSTARRS by attaching his Canon T3i DSLR to a 10-inch Meade Schmidt-Newtonian SN-10. See the gallery »

How to observe Comet PANSTARRS in April

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. Learn more »

March 21 — Borut Prasnikar

Borut Prasnikar captured Comet PANSTARRS from Krizna Gora, Slovenia. He subtracted some of the background to show the comet's tail structure better. See the gallery »

March 21 — Richard McCoy

Astroimager Richard McCoy from Mead, Colorado, captured Comet PANSTARRS through a 4-inch telescope. See the gallery »

March 19 — Jeremy Perez

Noted asto-sketcher Jeremy Perez recorded his observations of Comet PANSTARRS from Elk City, Oklahoma. See the gallery »

Comet PANSTARRS and a jet contrail

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. Read now »

March 17 — Miguel Claro

Astroimager Miguel Claro captured Comet PANSTARRS from Almada near Lisbon, Portugal. See the gallery »

March 16 — Chris Schur

Longtime Astronomy magazine contributor Chris Schur obtained a more close-up image of Comet PANSTARRS from Payson, Arizona. See the gallery »

March 16 — Bob Fera

Longtime Astronomy magazine contributor Bob Fera captured Comet PANSTARRS from Foresthill, California. See the gallery »

March 15 — Raymond Maher

Raymond Maher shot Comet PANSTARRS from Belleplain State Forest, New Jersey. See the gallery »

March 14 — Brian A. Morganti

Brian A. Morganti captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS near Bernville, Pennsylvania, about an hour after sunset. See the gallery »

March 14 — Kevin Witman

Kevin Witman captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS through his telescope in Cochranville, Pennsylvania. See the gallery »

March 14 — Randall H. Suslick

Randall H. Suslick from Chase City, Virginia, took this shot of Comet PANSTARRS on March 14. See the gallery »

A fantastic sketch of comet PANSTARRS

Senior Editor Michael Bakich shares Jeremy Perez's great sketch of Comet PANSTARRS from observations he made March 13. Check it out »

Another Comet PANSTARRS video

"Mr. Eclipse" Fred Espanek created another time-lapse movie of Comet PANSTARRS, this time as it set from Antelope Pass, Arizona. Watch the video »

Comet PANSTARRS doesn't disappoint

Senior Editor Michael E. Bakich blogs about a successful observing session of Comet PANSTARRS from Milwaukee on March 13. Read the recap »

March 13 — Tony Rowell

Astroimager Tony Rowell captured Comet PANSTARRS from California's Mojave Desert. See the gallery »

March 13 — Javier Falcón Quintana

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. See the gallery »

March 12 — Bill Willburn

Bill Wilburn from Oklahoma City captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS on March 12. See the gallery »

March 12 — Alistair Symon

Marana, Arizona, astroimager Alistair Symon captured Comet PANSTARRS. See the gallery »

March 12 — Tunc Tezel

Frequent contributor Tunç Tezel captured Comet PANSTARRS from near Karacabey, Bursa, Turkey. From his longitude, the Moon set too early to be caught. See the gallery »

March 12 — Benny Negy

Benny Negy shot Comet PANSTARRS from Montgomery, Texas. See the gallery »

March 12 — John Chumack

Frequent contributor John Chumack captured Comet PANSTARRS during a break in a snowstorm above Indianapolis. See the gallery »

March 12 — Babk Tafreshi

Astronomy magazine image contributor Babak Tafreshi captured Comet PANSTARRS from the observatory on La Palma in the Canary Islands. See the gallery »

March 12 — Joe Shuster

Joe Shuster captured Comet PANSTARRS and the Moon in a cloudy sky from Salem, Missouri. See the gallery »

March 12 — Chris Schur

Longtime Astronomy magazine contributor Chris Schur from Payson, Arizona, captured Comet PANSTARRS enveloped in a colorful Arizona sunset. See the gallery »

March 12 — Richard McCoy

Richard McCoy from Mead, Colorado, captured Comet PANSTARRS near the thin crescent Moon on March 12. See the gallery »

March 12 — Ahmad Alromeadheen

Ahmad Alromeadheen was at the Santa Susanna Pass in southern California to capture Comet PANSTARRS and the crescent Moon. See the gallery »

Comet PANSTARRS video

"Mr. Eclipse" Fred Espanek created a time-lapse movie of Comet PANSTARRS as it set from Simon, Arizona. Watch the video »

March 11 — Ajay Talwar

Ajay Talwar was at Devasthal Observatory, Uttarakhand, India, when he took this sequence that shows Comet PANSTARRS setting. See the gallery »

March 11 — Scott Kardel

Scott Kardel, managing director of the International Dark Sky Association, captured Comet PANSTARRS on March 11 near Tucson, Arizona. See the gallery »

March 11 — Christopher Go

Longtime celestial imager Christopher Go from Cebu City, Philippines, captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS on March 11. See the gallery »

March 10 — Adam Block

World-famous astroimager Adam Block captured Comet PANSTARRS from Tucson, Arizona, on March 10. See the gallery »

March 10 — Richard McCoy

Colorado astroimager Richard McCoy captured Comet PANSTARRS on Sunday, March 10, despite bright twilight and threatening clouds below. See the gallery »

March 7: It's time to observe Comet PANSTARRS

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. Learn more »

Comet PANSTARRS set to shine after sunset in March

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 »

Video: Get ready for Comet PANSTARRS — 2013's first naked-eye comet

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. Watch now »

Miriam Kramer and Dave Eicher talk comets on SPACE.com

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. Learn more »

March 5 — David Psaila

David Psaila from Sydney, Australia, captured Comet PANSTARRS the evening of March 5 from a cemetery. See the gallery »

Steve O'Meara, Botswana, and Comet PANSTARRS

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). Read what he said »

March 3 — Guillermo Abramson

Guillermo Abramson captured Comet PANSTARRS above the city of Bariloche and Mt. Catedral, in Argentina on March 3. See the gallery »

PANSTARRS and Lemmon

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. See the gallery »

February 16 — Ignacio Diaz Bobillo

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. See the gallery »