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Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS (Tuesday 5 March, 2013)

Thursday, March 7, 2013 20:40

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Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS imaged from 20:45 ACDST at Largs Bay, Adelaide. Single image (6 second exposure, 800 ASA, 3 x zoom) the comets tail can be easily seen. (click to embiggen, for the best view).	Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS imaged from 20:45 ACDST at Largs Bay, Adelaide. This is a stack of 10 images from 6-15 seconds long at 800 ASA, 3 x zoom taken with my Canon IXUS. Images stacked in The GIMP. (click to embiggen)

A few days of cloud since my previous images of C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS (see also here and here). Luckily the clouds parted so I had a chance to see comet at closest approach. I headed down the beach at 20:40 ACDST. Heading to my usual spot (recognise those posts?) I could immediately see the comet and a tiny wisp of tail with the unaided eye, much easier than on the 3rd.

Paradoxically the head of the comet looked less bright than on the 3rd when viewed through binoculars, although the 2.5 degree tail was easier to see. Doing my brightness estimation I’m still coming up with around magnitude 2. The exposures were the same duration as before, but I was using a higher ASA value.