03/14/2013 – Ephemeris – Comet PanSTARRS is hard to pick out of the twilight

Ephemeris for Pi Day 3/14, Thursday, March 14th.  The sun will rise at 7:56.  It’ll be up for 11 hours and 51 minutes, setting at 7:47.   The moon, 3 days past new, will set at 11:13 this evening.

Comet PanSTARRS is moving northward and is seen higher in the west at 45 minutes after sunset.  That’s 8:32 p.m. here in the Interlochen/Traverse City area.  At that time it will be about 7 ½ degrees above the horizon.  That’s three and a half knuckles up on a fist held at arms length above the horizon.  Spaceweather.com has the latest photos of the comet with the advice that a several second exposure with a digital camera shows the comet better than to the eye.  My finder charts which are close to photo realistic are on bobmoler.wordpress.com.  Our weather isn’t the best here with rain fog and snow.   But hope springs eternal.  The comet will be around for the rest of the month but will still be fighting twilight and a brightening moon.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Comet PanSTARRS from March 14, 2013 through the 17th. Created using Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel.

Now that the moon can’t be used as a pointer to the comet, I chosen to show the comet’s positions through the weekend.