Comet Pan-STARRS could be visible in coming nights

Comet Pan-STARRS could be visible in coming nights


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SALT LAKE CITY — A rare sight could be shaping up for Utah skies in the next few nights, a comet that might be — just might be — visible with the naked eye.

Even if it fizzles, it serves as a preview for a far more spectacular comet next November, a comet so bright it may be visible in daylight.

Comets are among the most beautiful objects we ever see in the night sky, and Comet Pan-STARRS has been putting on a bit of a show in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sky watchers in Australia captured some nice photos in recent days. It's already a rarity.

"A comet that's bright enough to be seen without any kind of telescope or binoculars from earth, they happen once every few years," said Seth Jarvis with the Clark Planetarium.

"It could be just naked eye," Jarvis said. "Although it might be better to look at it with a pair of binoculars."


A comet that's bright enough to be seen without any kind of telescope or binoculars from earth, they happen once every few years.

–Seth Jarvis, Clark Planetarium.


At the Stansbury Park observatory, the Salt Lake Astronomical Society is setting up for a public comet-watch Wednesday. But Patrick Wiggins, with the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, has heard discouraging reports from Australia.

"People have been trying to see it the last few days, and it's really not living up to its hype," Wiggins said.

Here's what we may see the next five nights: Comet Pan-STARRS will be hanging in the western sky at sunset, slowly setting about 45 minutes after the sun. With a crescent moon nearby, Jarvis thinks Wednesday might be the best night.

"The tail might actually be pointing through the new moon," Jarvis said. "So you see that cool little fingernail crescent moon, you could have a comet tail spiking right through it."

It will be so close to the horizon, mountains will block many people's view.

"You do need to have a very low western horizon to have any chance at all of seeing this thing," Wiggins said.

This fall, Comet ISON will also be falling toward the sun, but exceptionally close. On Thanksgiving Day, it may light up to an extraordinary degree, possibly the brightest anyone alive today has ever seen.

"If it behaves the way we think it's going to behave, even though it's very close to the sun, it will be so bright that you can see it in broad daylight," Jarvis said.

Less optimistic astronomers predict something less, but still amazing, a November comet visible at night brighter than the full moon.

"That would really surprise me," Wiggins said. "It would be great if it happened. But it has a lot of promise of being a truly spectacular comet."

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John Hollenhorst

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