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Hello!
In just a few days' time
the Northern hemisphere will get its first glimpse
of a new comet.
This comet is called
C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS).
Now the 2011 bit is
the year that the comet was discovered
and L4 actually means is was
the fourth comet discovered
in the first half of June 2011
and PANSTARRS is named after
the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii
where the comet was discovered.
What I'm going to be answering in this video
is where can you see it?
What equipment will you need to be able to see it?
and what sort of thing will it look like?
When the comet was first discovered in 2011
when you look at what the predicted brightness was
it was actually coming out to be very bright;
one of the brightest comets
of the last century.
In the last few weeks it did look
to be a little bit fainter.
It hadn't quite brightened as anticipated
and it would only just be possible
to see it with the naked eye
however in the last few days
it does seem to have brightened a little bit
so we're hoping this should be a fairly easy
object to view with the naked eye
for a couple of weeks.
So between about the 10th March
and towards the end of March
maybe the last week of March
it should hopefully be visible with the naked eye.
It won't be an easy object
because of two factors.
First of all it will never get
particularly high above the horizon
after the Sun sets
and the second one is that we have interferance
from a very bright full Moon
which will be coming towards the end of the month.
If you have binoculars
or a small telescope
then the comet should be visible for
for at least a couple of months
as it moves away from Earth
and gradually gets fainter and fainter.
So where should you be trying to look
if you want to see it?
The comet will never be particularly high
above the horizon after the Sun sets
so you will need to find
a clear western horizon
free from trees, buildings
and all sorts of other stuff.
So it's best if you can get a
completely clear horizon
and preferably away from city lights as well.
On the 12th March
just after the Sun sets
keep an eye out to the West
and you'll see a very thin crescent Moon.
When it's dark enough
you may be able to pick out the comet
just to the left of the Moon
and as it gets darker
it should become more visible.
It will however get lower towards the horizon
as time goes on
so you'll need to catch it fairly quickly.
As we go through March
the comet will appear to move
through the constellations of Pegasus
and Andromeda
and it will be gradually getting fainter
as time goes on.
The comet should appear
somewhere between West and Northwest
and fairly low down in the sky.
Once we're into April it is probably
going to be too faint
to see with the naked eye
so you will need some binoculars
or a small telescope to be able to see it
It will continue to get fainter and fainter
as it gets further away from the Earth.
There is actually an interesting combination
between about the 1st
and the 5th of April.
The comet will be actually very close
to the Andromeda Galaxy
which is known as M31
or Messier 31.
You will need probably a telescope to see it
but that should
produce some interesting photographs.
So what will the comet look like?
Well as I said
the comet will not be particularly high after sunset
so we're going to be slightly hampered
by bright twilight
but hopefully we will see a
dense nucleus or coma
and the tail will be pointing
roughly upwards from the horizon,
the tail will point away from the Sun.
This comet has almost certainly never
been into the inner Solar System before
and once it passes the Sun
indications suggest it will probably be
in a 110,000 year orbit
so this is really a once in a lifetime chance
to see this particular comet.
Now astronomers are hopeful
that at the end of the year
that we will have an even brighter comet.
Now comets can change rapidly
over the course of a few months,
a week
or even just a few days.
The comet coming at the end of the year
will pass very close to the Sun
so it's entirely possible that the comet
will just boil away,
break up or anything,
it may not be quite as good
as first predicted
but astronomers are still hopeful.
So thanks for watching
and I hope you manage to see the comet!