Astroblog: Comet C/2011 PanSTARRS in STEREO, 13-14 March 2013

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Comet C/2011 PanSTARRS in STEREO, 13-14 March 2013


Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS from 18:29 UT on 13 March. A Coronal Mass Ejection is billowing out tworads the comet. The bright object to the upper right is Earth, the vertical spikes image artefacts. Click to embiggen. Image credit NASA/STEREO	An image from earlier in the sequences from the H1B imager I've used the difference method in ImageJ to enhance the dust features in the tail, the CME and the ion spikes. Thanks CometAl for the suggestion Click to embiggen

Comet C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS is continuing to put on a good show in the STEREO H1B imager, on th e 13th it was joined by n impressive coronal mass ejection, with some minor activity on the 14th. For some impressive images of the comet, see Comet Al's blog.


C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS on the 14th. Click to embiggen. Getting the dust stream brightness balance is not easy.	A blast from the past, this is comet C/2006 P1 McNaught, the most impressive comet we've had in a long time, as seen in the H1B imager. It also had impressive dust steamers.