PanSTARRS by Greg Bradburn
Over 10 members of the Raleigh Astronomy Club came out to Science Thursday 3/15 at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to view comet PanSTARRS and some other objects. Over 50 members of the public came out to brave the cold and windy conditions.
PanSTARRS by Chris Cole
In order to get a low western horizon, we were on Level 9 of the Green Square (NRC) parking deck. There were a lot of clouds on the western horizon which rendered a naked eye observation almost impossible. Howecer, it was clearly visible in binoculars. Chris Cole was the first to spot the comet in his refractor. It appeared low in the sky, roughly 1/3rd the distance (above horizon) between the Moon and horizon. It became visible ~7:50PM and remained visible until ~8:15PM when it disappeared behind the tall State Employees Credit Union building.
The Moon, Jupiter, and Orion Nebula were also crowd favorites, especially after the comet disappeared from view. The Moon was especially beautiful when bathed in the silvery blue light of twilight. The terminator was just caressing the outer edge of Mare Crisium and the pale blue light accentuated variant surface features on the alluvial lava plane that normally appear to us as a featureless basin. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold.
