Ever See a Comet With Binoculars? Take a Look See!

By | 2014-06-13

I have to admit that, as of this day in early June, I have yet to see Comet C/2012 K1, aka PaNNSTARS up close and personal. That being said, it’s really easy to find with the chart to the left.

If you’re somewhere dark and have binoculars (or a telescope), aim at the number of the day in June/July shown on this sky chart. The field of view of most binoculars will make the comet easy to see. It will be a ‘little fuzz ball’. You probably won’t see a tail unless you’re in a dark sky area (North Florida). The constellation Leo is very easy to find. Look almost straight up for the backwards question mark. Regulus, the lower most star, is easy to spot.

As soon as these clouds move out of the way I’ll be scoping it out with my 12″ Meade LightBridge.

Panstarrs-May-31-Damian-Peach-547x360

 

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I added a screen shot from my favorite iPhone/iPad Sky chart map, StarMap.  It shows Mars on the left. You can’t miss it. Very bright, very red. The bright bluish star to the left is Spica, which is normally one of the brightest in the sky except for the planets.

See if you can find Saturn. It’s an easy one to see too. It’s on the elliptical plane with the other planets, toward the east and also pretty bright.

Take a look through some of my Astronomy links on the menu if you want to know more. Or just lay on your back somewhere dark and take it all in for hours at a time. Like I do. That just reminded me of this…

If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they would live a lot differently.- Calvin and Hobbes

I know I do. Enjoy!

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