Afterwards, it’ll be best for observers in the Southern Hemisphere. After mid-September, it’ll be close to the southwestern horizon as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. It first became visible in small telescopes from the Northern Hemisphere in May and will remain visible until September. That coma is about 80,700 miles (129,874 km), which is 10 times the Earth’s diameter! You might also see the comet’s tail, while long-exposure images should reveal the comet and its tail in all its glory.Īstronomers estimate that Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) has been traveling from the Oort cloud for some 3 million years in a hyperbolic orbit. The fuzziness is mostly the comet’s gigantic outer atmosphere, or coma. You should be able to see comet K2 as a fuzzy patch of light. Then, using a small telescope, find the comet, which in August, is heading from Ophiuchus into Scorpius. How to see C/2017 K2įirst, find a dark-sky site. From then on it will be cruising through southern constellations. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere and haven’t seen it yet, you’ll want to get a look before about mid-September. But that’s if you live in the Southern Hemisphere. After that, it will remain a good observing object for another month before fading. It will reach its closest point to the sun – perihelion – on December 19, 2022. The comet made its closest approach to Earth on July 14, 2022, but it’s still slowly brightening. If you have a small telescope, it’s not too late to catch a view of summer’s best comet, C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS). Hopefully the best is yet to come.” Thank you, Eliot! Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) The image shows the comet embedded in interstellar gas, providing variations of color to frame the comet. At the time of the image, the comet was 172 million miles (277 million km) from Earth. Eliot wrote: “Comet 2017 K2 is already presenting a striking image months from its predicted maximum brightness. | Eliot Herman, using an iTelescope in Siding Springs, Australia, captured this image of Comet PanSTARRS on July 30, 2022.
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