Possible appearance of Comets PANSTARRS and ISON.

Following on from the news about two possible extremely bright comets next year.
See details here for details of their celestial paths over the coming months.

Latest news here.
I have run Sky Safari to try and see what the comets MIGHT look like from the UK next year.
Please note that these are ONLY A REPRESENTATION and the comets will undoubtedly look much different to the images shown here

I have also produced some animations of their possible appearances here.

In all likelihood the tails will be curved due to the speed of the comet around the Sun, particularly with PANSTARRS.
Will they have a single ion tail, a separate dust tail, or multiple tails.
No-one can really tell at this stage?

Comet ISON C/2012 S1. Is currently very faint at magnitude 18 in Gemini.

Unfortunately for both comets, when they are at their brightest next year, they are quite low in the sky.

I have made these images to show them at their brightest at a reasonable height above the horizon.
These images are for central UK, but they can be used for any location in mid-northern latitudes.

Comet PANSTARR C/2011 L4

View Looking West on the evening of the 1st of April 2013. 20.ooh.

View looking East on the evening of the 6th of April 2013. 20.00h.

View looking East on the morning of the 7th of April 2013. 04.00h.

The comet is fairly close to M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy around this time.

COMET ISON C/2012 S1. This comet has now been downgraded a bit and may not be “quite” as bright as was initially hoped. But even with the downgrading of brightness it should still be a fabulous sight.

View Looking East on the morning of the 10th December 2013 05.00h.

View Looking West on the evening of the 18th December 2013. 16.00h.

If these predictions are correct? WOW!!!

Let’s just keep those fingers crossed.

Dave.

17 Comments for this entry

Eagleseye
January 2nd, 2013 on 7:51 am
Laten we het hopen.

Dave
Daniel Fischer
January 2nd, 2013 on 9:51 pm
In all graphics here the tail follows a straight line which – I suppose – is the antisolar direction where a plasma tail would show up. But what makes a comet a Great Comet is the much brighter dust tail which (just remember e.g. McNaught in early 2007 – or Halley in April 1986) can point in very different directions and also fan out dramatically. I’m still looking in vain for PANSTARRS and ISON preview sky graphics taking this into account.
Eagleseye
January 3rd, 2013 on 7:37 am
Yes, the planetary software will always show the anti-solar plasma tail direction.
As both comets will be very fast moving as they round the Sun and make their appearance I would expect the dust tail will be Scimitar shaped with a nice curve to it.
Comet McNaught shows what is more likely to be seen.
Emilio
January 3rd, 2013 on 8:09 pm
solo una pregunta que programa es y donde lo puedo descargar???
Eagleseye
January 4th, 2013 on 7:58 am
El programa es Sky Safari y puede ser comprado y descargado desde aquí:
http://www.southernstars.com/products/skysafari/index.html

Dave
Robert
January 5th, 2013 on 12:48 am
As seen on CNN today here in North America. They produced a story providing the link to your website! Keep up the good work and look forward to more information as the comets get closer
Eagleseye
January 5th, 2013 on 8:51 am
Hi Robert,
Thanks for letting me know. No wonder my site statistics have gone bonkers.
I intend to produce a guide to each of the comets in due course.
Kind Regards,
Dave
Barry Malpas
January 5th, 2013 on 3:17 pm
Just a slight correction. The title to your second image of the PANSTARRS comet states: View looking East on the evening morning of the 6th of April 2013. 20.00h.
Clearly it is in the evening and the direction looking North West as indicated in the image itself.
I came to you site through another website that used this image of yours and they took this mis-title as being correct reproducing the error.

Nice graphics and info though. Thanks.
Eagleseye
January 5th, 2013 on 4:57 pm
Thanks for spotting this. I have corrected it on my site.
Regards,

Dave
Andrew
January 5th, 2013 on 10:06 pm
Will they be visible in the Northern Hemisphere?
Eagleseye
January 6th, 2013 on 4:50 am
Hi Andrew.
The views I have shown are for central UK, so yes.
I just hope that the comets live up to expectations now.

Dave
Andrew
January 7th, 2013 on 10:10 pm
These’ll be wonderful to see. Fingers crossed.
Anura Guruge
January 29th, 2013 on 10:06 pm
Dave,
Brilliant work.
As a fellow Brit (alas stuck in the US) could I please get your permission to use your C/2012 S1 (ISON) night sky picture in a publication — replete, of course, with total attribution to you, with your name and Website?
Once it is done I will show it to you.
Thank you. All the best.
Keep up the great work.
Cheers, Anura
P.S., as a lifelong cricket addict, the sightscreen that appears in that picture just makes it so, so special.
barclakj
March 4th, 2013 on 9:22 pm
Nice thanks. Unlikely to be anywhere near as bright as Hale-Bopp was but with a bit of luck it looks like I may be able to see it from South London… Fingers crossed.
Gloria
March 11th, 2013 on 12:25 am
Here is a Planetarium in your browser for easier identification. Just point and it tells you what you are looking at. Very cool for those who love to stargaze

http://neave.com/planetarium/
Alex
March 16th, 2013 on 12:50 am
Which version of Sky Safari these animations are from?
Eagleseye
March 21st, 2013 on 4:13 am
Hi Alex, Sky Safari for The Mac.