Comet PANSTARRS photo gallery

Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) remained a great target for astroimagers nearly three months after its perihelion date of March 10, 2013. This image shows both that both the wide dust tail and the straighter, much longer, ion tail are both active. Expert imager Damian Peach used a 4-inch Takahashi FSQ-106 refractor and SBIG STL-11000M CCD camera to capture this photo. He too an LRGB image with four 3-minute luminance exposures stacked with one 2-minute exposure through the R, G, and B filters, on June 6, 2013, at 5h49m UT.

Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) is still putting on a show. Unfortunately, at the time this imager captured it, the comet glowed at magnitude 9.3, much too faint to spot with the naked eye. Comet PANSTARRS is heading toward the solar system’s outer reaches. On the date of this image, it was 1.81 astronomical units from the Sun. An astronomical unit is the distance between Earth and the Sun, about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). Bernhard Hubl took captured image using a 12-inch Newtonian reflector and an SBIG ST-2000XM CCD camera. He took an LRGB image with exposures of 20, 18, 18, and 18 minutes, respectively, on May 28, 2013, between 20h55m UT and 22h30m UT, from Nussbach, Austria.

Bob Gillette captured Comet PANSTARRS' green ion tail May 4 from central New Hampshire. He used an ASA 12-inch astrograph set to f/3.6 and a QSI 583wsg CCD camera to take this 13-minute LRGB photo.

Longtime image contributor Jamie Cooper from Dustin, England, sent in this image of Comet PANSTARRS as it passed the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) on April 3. He used a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR and a 100-400mm zoom lens set to 250mm and f/4. After setting his camera to ISO 1600, he took nineteen 30-second exposures and stacked them.

Imager Barry Burgess captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS from New Canada, Nova Scotia, as it passed near the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). He used a Canon EOS 5D DSLR with a lens set to 100mm and f/2.8. He set his camera at ISO 1600 and took a 15-second exposure April at 9:14 p.m. local time.

Imager Larry Russell of East Peoria, Illinois, obtained this image of Comet PANSTARRS on March 21 by attaching his Canon T3i DSLR to a 10-inch Meade Schmidt-Newtonian SN-10 at f/4 on an LXD75 mount. He set the ISO to 1600 and took eight 6-second exposures, then stacked them.

Borut Prasnikar from Skofja Loka, Slovenia, took this image of Comet PANSTARRS at Krizna Gora, Slovenia, on March 21. He used a Nikon D300 DSLR with a 300mm f/4 Nikkor lens set at f/4. He set his camera to ISO 800 and took twenty-one 20-second exposures, which he stacked. Finally, he subtracted some of the background to show the comet's tail structure better, and created this final image.

Astroimager Richard McCoy from Mead, Colorado, captured Comet PANSTARRS the evening of March 21 at 8:21 p.m. MDT. He used a Nikon D7000 set at ISO 400 attached to a 4-inch Takahashi FSQ-106ED refractor. The exposure was 30 seconds.

Noted astro-sketcher Jeremy Perez of Flagstaff, Arizona, made an observation and drawing of Comet PANSTARRS on March 19 while he was out of town visiting family in Elk City, Oklahoma. He reported, "Despite Elk City having lower altitude than Flagstaff and more moisture in the air, the comet was in great form and showing off lots of structure in its tail. I noted three brighter plumes in the main curving section of the tail. There was also a faint straighter edge along the north edge. Along the southern edge, a fainter curving edge peeled away at a broad angle, and then further down, another short, straight segment emanated from the coma. It stretched about 1.5ÒÀ across the width of the binocular field. What a beauty!"

Astroimager Miguel Claro from Corroios sent in the following report: "After a few days of rain and clouds near the horizon, I was finally able toÒšphotograph Comet PANSTARRS in the Portuguese sky. Actually, I had just returnedÒšfrom a weekend photo trip and was exhausted, but the sky wasÒštotally clear, so I found some 'extra forces' to delay my sleep. I took the image in the city of Almada, near Lisbon, Portugal." Claro used a Canon 50D DSLR with a lens set to 108mm and f/5. He set his camera at ISO 1000 and took a 1/60-second exposure March 17 at 7:43 p.m. local time.

Amateur astronomer Paul Klauninger of Lanark, Ontario, Canada, capturedÒšComet PANSTARRS on March 16 at 8:35 p.m. EDT. He used a Canon EOS 1000D with a Skylight 1A imaging filter attached to a 2.8-inch Stellarvue SV70 ED refractor at f/6. He set the camera to ISO 1600 and made a stack of four 30-second images.

At 7:15 p.m. MST on the evening of March 16, longtime Astronomy magazine contributor Chris Schur obtained a more close-up image of Comet PANSTARRS than we've been receiving. He attached his Canon XTi DSLR to a 3.2-inch Zeiss apochromatic refractor at f/4.6. He set the ISO to 200 and took a 5-minute exposure from his home in Payson, Arizona. The comet still had a total integrated magnitude of 1.5. As a comparison, the two brightest stars in the image (to the upper right) shine at magnitude 6.3.

Longtime Astronomy magazine contributor Bob Fera captured Comet PANSTARRS on March 16 at 8:14 p.m. PDT from Foresthill, California. He used a Nikon D90 DSLR with a 105mm f/2.8 lens set at f/4. He set the camera to ISO 800 and took a 4-second exposure.

Raymond Maher of Maurice River Township, New Jersey, sent in a shot of Comet PANSTARRS he took in Belleplain State Forest, New Jersey, at 8:06 p.m. EDT on the evening of March 15. He used a Canon T2i DSLR set at ISO 1600 and a Sigma 70-300mm lens set at 200mm and f/5.6 for this 4-second exposure.

Brian A. Morganti shot this image of Comet PANSTARRS near Bernville, Pennsylvania, March 14 about an hour after sunsetÒšusing a Canon 5D MII and a 70-200mm f/2.8L lens set at 200mm f/5.6 mounted on a fixed tripod.

Kevin Witman of Cochranville, Pennsylvania, captured this image ofÒšComet PANSTARRS. He said, "Here is an image I just recorded of Comet PANSTARRS on March 14, 2013 at about 8 p.m. EDT from Cochranville. I used an Orion Short Tube 80 telescope with a Canon XS 10.1mp DSLRÒšattached at prime focus. The exposure was 3 seconds at ISO 400."

Randall H. Suslick from Chase City, Virginia, took this shot ofÒšComet PANSTARRS with a Canon EOS D50 DSLR and a 135mm lens at f/5.6. He set his camera to ISO 1600 and took a 7-second exposure March 14.

Astroimager Tony Rowell of Bishop, California, captured Comet PANSTARRS near Highway 178 in California's Mojave Desert at 6:51 PST on the night of March 13. He used a Nikon D800E DSLR with a Nikon ED 300mm lens at f/2.8. He set his camera to ISO 500 and took a 4-second exposure.

European imager Javier FalcÓÃn Quintana imaged Comet PANSTARRS on March 13 at an elevation of 6,234 feet (1900 meters) height from the mountains of Gran Canaria, Spain. He reported, ò??The comet is brighter each night and noticeably increasing the length of its visible tail. This is becoming an amazing spectacle for Northern Hemisphere stargazers like me, and I wanted to share these exciting and unforgettable nights with you.ò?? For this image, he used a 3.2-inch Equinox 80mm semi-apochromatic refractor at f/6.25 and a Canon 450D DSLR set to ISO 400. This was a 6-second exposure taken at 20h05m UT.

Bill Wilburn from Oklahoma City captured this image of Comet PANSTARRS on March 12. He used a Pentax ist DL DSLR set at ISO 400 and a Tamron AF70-300mm F/4-5.6 LD lens set to 70mm and f/5.6. This was a 4-second exposure taken at 8:29 p.m. CDT.

Marana, Arizona, astroimager Alistair Symon captured Comet PANSTARRS on March 12. He imaged it with a Canon 40D DSLR that he set to ISO 1600, and a 200mm series L zoom lens set to 188mm and f/4. This was a 1-second exposure.

Frequent contributor TunÓ? Tezel captured Comet PANSTARRS from near Karacabey, Bursa, Turkey, on the evening of March 12. From his longitude, he said the Moon set too early to be caught.ÒšHe took this shot through a Canon EOS 5D Mark II DSLR at ISO 1600 with a 100-400mm lens set at 100mm and f/4.5. It was a 4-second exposure.

Astroimager Benny Negy shot Comet PANSTARRS on March 12 from Montgomery, Texas. He used a Canon T2i DSLR set at ISO 100 with a Canon EF200mm f/2.8L II USM lens set to f/2.8. This was a 2.5-second exposure.

Longtime Astronomy magazine contributor John Chumack from Dayton, Ohio, sent in this great story about observing Comet PANSTARRS: On March 12, I drove about two hours to Indianapolis to catch a plane ride with one of my former University of Dayton engineering students, Kevin, who is now a pilot.ÒšKevinÒštook me up in his plane, in hopes of getting above the clouds to see Comet PANSTARRS ò?? or at least fly to an airport farther south with clear weather.

Unfortunately, a really bad storm was brewing to the west over Illinois, and gusty winds blew us around a bit. After a short ride, we landed and decided to we would have to wait for another day to see the comet. We put the plane in the hangar and headed out to eat dinner.

By now itò??s snowing like mad. After dinner, we headed on to Kevinò??s house. As we pulled in front of his house, we noticed the snow stopping, then a huge sucker hole to the west with the thin crescent Moon and Comet PANSTARRS visible. So I managed to pop off several quick shots. For this one, I used a Canon Rebel XSiÒšDSLR with a lens set to 135mm and f/4.5. I set the camera to ISO 400 and took a 0.8-second shot.

Goes to show, that sometimes itò??s worth traveling to increase your chances of witnessing something astronomical, even if your original plan does not work out.ÒšIò??m so glad I went to Indy. In the end, all we really had to do was to wait in front of Kevinò??s house for an opening.

Astronomy magazine image contributor Babak Tafreshi captured thisÒšdelicate shot of Comet PANSTARRS on March 12. He said, "We had some clouds at the horizon this evening from the observatory on La Palma, and it was quite challenging to find the comet and the very thinÒšnew moon (distorted at the horizon), so I'm happy with this lucky result. It was amazing that at that moment I had a passing astronomerÒšcar below the William Herschel Telescope which softlyÒšilluminated the dome!"

Joe Shuster of the Lake County Astronomical Society in Ingleside, Illinois, took this image ofÒšComet PANSTARRS and the Moon in a cloudy sky March 12. He used a Canon T1i DSLR with a Nikon 200mm AIS f/4 lens. He set the camera to ISO 800 and took a 4-second exposure from Salem, Missouri.

Longtime Astronomy magazine contributor Chris Schur from Payson, Arizona, took this image of PANSTARRS enveloped in a colorful Arizona sunset March 12. He used a 3.2-inch Zeiss apochromatic refractor at f/4.6 and a Canon XTi DSLR set to ISO 400. This was a 3-second exposure.

Richard McCoy from Mead, Colorado, capturedÒšComet PANSTARRS near the thin crescent Moon on March 12. He used a Nikon D7000 DSLR set to ISO 800 with a Nikon 300mm lens set at f/4. This was a 2-second exposure.

Ahmad Alromeadheen was at the Santa Susanna Pass in southern California to captureÒšComet PANSTARRS and the crescent Moon on March 12. He used a Canon 60D DSLR with a 70-300mm f/4.4 lens set to 133mm and f/5.6. He set his camera to ISO 800 and took a 2.5-second exposure March 12 at 8:04 p.m. PDT.

Ajay Talwar was atÒšDevasthal Observatory, Uttarakhand, India, when he took this sequence that shows Comet PANSTARRS setting March 11. He used a Canon EOS 5D Mark II with a 200mm lens, set the camera to ISO 1600, and took 16 shots at one-minute intervals. The exposure times varied between 0.4 second and 3.2 seconds.

Scott Kardel, managing director of the International Dark Sky Association, sent in this image of Comet PANSTARRS he took March 11 near Tucson, Arizona. He used a Canon 3Ti DSLR with a 200mm lens at f/5.6. He set the camera to ISO 1600 and took a 3.2-second exposure.

Longtime celestial imager Christopher Go from Cebu City, Philippines, sent this image of Comet PANSTARRS he took March 11, 2013. He used a Nikon D5100 DSLR with a Nikon 180mm lens set at f/2.8 and took a 3-second exposure at ISO 1600. At the time of this picture, the comet was crossing the border of the constellation Pisces into Cetus. It will spend only a few days in Cetus and continue northward through Pisces until March 21, when it will cross into Pegasus.

World-famous astroimager Adam Block captured Comet PANSTARRS from Tucson, Arizona, on March 10. He said, "Here is perhaps one of the first views of Comet PANSTARRS from Tucson. This might be a typical view from a city and this image is similar to what it looks like through binoculars. Look for the comet 30 minutes (exactly!) after sunset as it gets a little higher above the horizon each night this week. You will only have about 15 minutes to find and enjoy it before it sets. Needless to say, it is a challenge.ÒšThe comet will be shown each night from the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter as part of our public shows. The SkyCenter will also publish images of it this week as it becomes more easily seen in the twilight (check our website for updates!)." To get this shot, Block took a 4-second exposure through a Canon EOS 40D DSLR with a Canon EF300mm f/4L IS USM lens set at f/13.

Colorado astroimager Richard McCoy captured Comet PANSTARRS on Sunday, March 10, at 7:47 p.m. MDT. And that despite bright twilight and threatening clouds below. He mounted his Nikon D7000 DSLR with a Nikon 300mm lens set to f/4 on a tripod, set his camera to ISO 800, and took a 1.5-second exposure.

David Psaila from Sydney, Australia, took this image of Comet PANSTARRS on March 5, 2013, at 8:30 p.m. local time. He used a Canon 6D DSLR with a Canon 70-300mm lens set at 300mm and f/11. This was a 15-second exposure at ISO 800. The comet was quite apparent in the fading twilight, which ended at 8:53 p.m. local time.

This image shows Comet PANSTARRS above the city ofÒšBariloche and Mt. Catedral, in Argentina. Guillermo Abramson used a Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR with a Canon EF100mm f/2 USM lens. He set the focal ratio at f/2 and selected an ISO of 800. Then he captured this 2.5-second exposure March 3, 2013, at 9:41 p.m. local time.

Astroimager Yuri Beletsky from Vitacura, Chile, used a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR equipped with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens to shoot a 30-second exposure that shows both Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) and Comet Lemmon (C/2012 F6) in the same sky. He took the photograph just after sunset February 28 from the Atacama Desert. He noted that Comet PANSTARRS (lower right) was clearly visible to the unaided eye.

Astroimager Ignacio Diaz Bobillo captured Comet 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 Earthò??s rotation. He took the photos at daybreak February 16, 2013, from Observatorio Las Lechuzas, Mercedes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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.

Comet PANSTARRS on September 10, 2012

The Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala, Maui, found a new distant comet, designated C/2011 L4, on the night of June 5/6, 2011.