Yet Even More Amazing Pan-STARRS Pix and Vids

By Phil Plait

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Posted Tuesday, March 19, 2013, at 8:00 AM

Mon dieu! The comet setting behind La Tour Eiffel. Click to faireunplusgrandenate.
Image credit: Jean-Luc Dauvergne

I wasn’t going to post about the bright comet Pan-STARRS for a couple of more days, but simply incredible stuff keeps pouring in.

First, the picture at the top goes to show you that sometimes, setting is everything. It was taken by Jean-Luc Dauvergne, a journalist at Ciel Et Espace, a French magazine of astronomy. If his name, the name of the magazine, or the adjective “French” didn’t tip you off, perhaps the picture itself will: He caught Pan-STARRS as it set behind the Eiffel Tower!

That is ridiculously cool. He has another incredible shot of the comet and the Moon that has to be seen to be believed. The dark part of the Moon is illuminated by reflected Earthlight, called Earthshine. It's usually faint, but a time exposure like this one really makes it, well, shine.

Incroyable! Click to embiggen.
Image credit: Jean-Luc Dauvergne

I’ve already posted a few images taken by NASA’s STEREO Sun-observing spacecraft, which is currently located about 120° around the Sun from Earth, looking back toward us. Pan-STARRS dominates its view right now, and our own planet can be seen as well. The good folks at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio put together a short animation showing the comet moving through the field of view as well as a series of solar eruptions blasting out billions of tons of subatomic particles (including one from Mar. 16 that sparked aurorae here on Earth):

I really want to get pictures of this comet myself, but of course cursed the whole endeavor by getting a new camera, guaranteeing clouds for the next few days (this is typical; any astronomer will tell you that the best cure for a drought is to buy a telescope). But I did get to see it on Mar. 13. I tweeted the picture, but here it is just because:

Not my best pic ever—I use to use Hubble!—but not bad for a handheld iPhone camera.
Image credit: Phil Plait

This is through my 20cm (8”) telescope using an iPhone I held by hand up to the eyepiece. It’s way better than it deserves to be; the tail can be traced right out of the frame in the original.

Galileo would be proud.
Image credit: Phil Plait