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Comet Pan-STARRS over the western horizon and just above Mount Taylor on Tuesday evening, March 12, 2013, from Albuquerque N.M. Purchase this photo here. (Morgan Petroski/Journal)
Grab some binoculars and head to the mountains. Well, anywhere there’s a clear view of the western horizon, and that’s many places in New Mexico. The first of three comets anticipated in 2013 is best seen between a half-hour and hour after sunset for a few more days. Here’s how I photographed the Pan-STARRS comet, which NASA estimates will take another 110,000 years to return.
The first of three comets anticipated in 2013, I knew I had to photograph it, or at least try. I’m not a regular stargazer by any means, so I took to the Web to tell me how to find it.
Yesterday I saw a few stories online about the comet Pan-STARRS accompanied by a few photos taken when it was visible from the Southern Hemisphere. A few more websites of research later, I found my way to the TAAS (The Albuquerque Astronomical Society) Facebook page and website, which gave me a heads-up on where in the city to view the comet and around what time.
So at 7:11 p.m., yesterday’s sunset in Albuquerque, I found myself in the foothills of our lovely city with a few other stargazer folks who helped guide me and my cameras in the right direction. Once I saw the crescent moon, it took a few more minutes for the comet to come into view through binoculars. With the moon in my camera view, the comet was just out of range in the 400mm lens I had brought. There went that photo plan of getting just the moon and the comet in a tight frame together. Instead, I ended up taking a 30-second exposure photo of the comet when it neared the horizon with the 400mm and a 1.4x teleconverter and a shorter 3-second exposure photo of it and the crescent moon higher above the Albuquerque city lights and Mount Taylor to the west of the city with a 200mm lens.
If you missed it last night, you have a few more nights to check it out on your own and then on Friday, March 15, 2013, TAAS will coordinate with the University of New Mexico and provide public viewing of the comet. For one hour after sunset, there will be telescopes at the UNM observatory for viewing Pan-STARRS.
Morgan Petroski/Photo Editor
Comet Pan-STARRS in a 30-second time exposure over the western horizon and just above Mount Taylor on Tuesday evening, March 12, 2013, from Albuquerque N.M. (Morgan Petroski/Journal)
