13 July 2022

Comet PANSTARRS closest to Earth on July 14th

 


Comet PANSTARRS, C/2017 K2, will be closest to earth on 14th July 2022. The comet at its closest to earth will have a distance of 1.8AU or 269,276,167km in the constellation of Ophiuchus, this distance puts the comet beyond the planet Mars orbit.. The comet is bright enough to be seen in binoculars and small telescopes, the comet has a magnitude of 8. The comet PANSTARRS is well placed for observation, at the time of Sunset the comet will have an altitude of 45 degrees from the horizon, this gives plenty of time to observe, the comet will set at 3:45am.





Comet PANSTARRS, C/2017 K2, is easy to spot in the sky thanks to its closeness to the M10 globular cluster. The comet will be well within the field of view of binoculars, 20X80, until 18th July. Globular cluster M10 is a bright object at 6.6 magnitude, once M10 is the field it won’t be difficult to spot the fuzzy comet . The size of the comet will be roughly the size of M10. 





On 15th July the Comet PANSTARRS, C/2017 K2, will be closest to M10 with a separation of 25 arc minutes. At this small separation the comet and the globular cluster will be in the same field in the telescope, making it a wonderful sight and also to compare the brightness and size of the comet. Hope you all get a chance to view and photograph the comet. 






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