Keep your eyes on the skies as Comet Pan-STARRS makes an appearance

EDMONTON- Star gazers are in for a treat over the coming weeks, as Comet Pan-STARRS takes over the skies.

Beginning just after sunset Saturday, March 9, Comet Pan-STARRS will be visible just above the horizon in the western skies.

“People looking off towards the west for the next couple of weeks will see this strange thing in the sky that looks like a star-like point,” explained Frank Florian, vice-president of programs at Telus World of Science.

As long as skies remain clear, the comet will be visible just after dusk.

“It’s basically the material being blown off the comet- ices and gases- that kind of melt and they create these spectacular shows in the night time sky,” Florian explained.

The name Pan-STARRS comes from an acronym for the telescope in Hawaii that first detected its presence, the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System.

The comet will be faint Saturday evening, but as it makes its way higher above the horizon, Florian says Comet Pan-STARRS will become more visible next week.

He says Monday and Tuesday evenings will be an even bigger treat for astronomy enthusiasts, as Comet Pan-STARRS joins the crescent moon.

The comet will be visible to the unaided eye but, “binoculars will definitely help you locate it and actually show you more detail, and telescopes as well, which will actually show in more the detail the nucleus of the comet, the centre of the comet itself,” Florian explained.

Comets visible to the naked eye are not overly common however, another one will be visible later this year, in November and December.

“It’s called Comet ISON, named after an observatory in Spain,” said Florian. “That comet in November and December could far outshine even the bright planet Venus, maybe, some people are suggesting as bright as a full moon, but I highly doubt that.”

He says if that happens, Comet ISON will become one of the brightest comets ever recorded.

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