C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS)
Discovered by the Pan-STARRS telescope located on Maui on June 6th, 2011. This bright comet put on an impressive show throughout February - June 2013. Peaking at magnitude 0 when near perihelion in March. It quickly moved into the evening sky later in the month still shining brightly at magnitude 1 to 2 and sporting a fairly short but impressively wide dust tail. The comet faded slowly while moving into darker skies and slowly developed an impressive ant-tail feature. By the time the Earth crossed the comets orbital plane on May 27th this tail stretched over ten degrees in length - the longest such tail of its kind seen since Comet Arend-Roland in 1957.
Below you'll find images taken of this comet. Updates will be ongoing until it fades from view.
August 8th, 2013 17"CDK @ F4.5. FLI-PL6303E camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
Comet Pan-STARRS changing tail FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera.
Shot between May 6th and June 27th this movie shows how the comet appearance changed during the period Earth passed through the orbital plane of the comet (which occurred near the end of May.)
July 10th, 2013 17"CDK @ F4.5. FLI-PL6303E camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
June 27th, 2013 17"CDK @ F4.5. FLI-PL6303E camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
June 26th, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
June 19th, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins. Moon present.
June 11th, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
June 6th, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
May 31st, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
May 30th, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
May 26th, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins. Shot through high cloud and moonlight.
May 22nd, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
May 21st, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
May 16th, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. LRGB. L:4x3mins. RGB. 1x2mins.
May 14th, 2013 FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. 4x3mins unfiltered.
May 9th, 2013 20" CDK@F4.5. FLI-PL11002M camera. RGB. 3 mins each filter (colour image.) FSQ106 with STL-11000M camera. 4x3mins unfiltered (wide field image.)
April 2nd, 2013 Canon 500d. 50mm prime lens.35x10secs on camera tripod. April 2nd, 2013. West Sussex, UK. Comet with Messier 31.The negative view well shows the wide extent of the dust tail.
April 1st, 2013 Canon 500d. 60mm lens. 6x10secs. April 1st, 2013. West Sussex, UK. Comet approaching conjunction with Messier 31 with yours truly looking on.
March 17th, 2013 Canon 500d. 60mm lens. 20x5secs. March 17th, 2013. Hamble, UK. Comet near maximum brightness.
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