If you don't count Comet McNaught, which
furtively grazed the horizon for a few days before its great southern-sky performance in 2006 and the
unexpected brightening of Comet 17P/Holmes in late 2007, we northerners haven't had a truly satisfying comet-watching experience since Hale-Bopp in 1995. We're overdue!
Since then we've been teased and then disappointed a few times. Back in 2004 I looked forward eagerly to seeing
two fuzzy iceballs by eye at the same time — a visual treat not achieved since 1911. But comets NEAT and LINEAR failed to live up to their advance billing.
Comet Elenin (C/2010 X1), discovered last year, likewise might not perform as well as hoped when it peaks this coming September.
The discovery sequence for Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4), showing the 19th-magnitude object's motion against background stars from 9:20 to 10:23 Universal Time on June 6, 2011.
PS1 Science Consortium
So it's with some trepidation that I write about a promising discovery made two weeks ago. Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) was found by an automated survey telescope of the same name in Hawaii. For the record, that odd acronym stands for Panoramic Survey Telescope And Rapid Response System. It's a 1.8-m prototype for a quartet of military-funded scopes that astronomers hope to build on the lip of the extinct volcano Haleakala.
Pan-STARRS 1 has had its share of development issues, but that's a story for another day.
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