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| Comet PanStarrs low in the sky over the Waveney Marshes (just after sunset 13th March 2013) |
".......this most excellent canopy, the air—look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire....." William Shakespeare-Hamlet-1604.
Toot an I were unable to see the comet on the 12th but did manage to see and photograph it on the 13th. Clearly it survived its encounter with the Sun and looks a treat in binoculars or a small telescope. If you are trying to see it from the UK it should get easier and higher in the sky as the week progresses. Comets and our weather are notoriously fickle so lets hope for clear skies!
I took these photographs when the comet was at its highest above the horizon.
"Then Jupiter, the Father, spoke..."Take up Caesar s spirit from his murdered corpse, and change it into a star, so that the deified Julius may always look down from his high temple on our Capitol and forum." He had barely finished, when gentle Venus stood in the midst of the Senate, seen by no one, and took up the newly freed spirit of her Caesar from his body, and preventing it from vanishing into the air, carried it towards the glorious stars. As she carried it, she felt it glow and take fire, and loosed it from her breast: it climbed higher than the moon, and drawing behind it a fiery tail, shone as a star" Metamorphoses-Ovid-8AD
"When beggars die there are no comets seen;The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes."
William Shakespeare-Julius Ceasar
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| Photoshop enlarged view of Comet Panstarrs (Photograph taken with a tripod mounted Canon 400D DSLR with telephoto lens) |
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| "Comets are like cats, they have tails and they do precisely what they want" David H Levy- Comets Creators and Destroyers |
Comets have been observed throughout time and have been associated with battles and the death of kings, princes and emperors.
Billions of years ago, comets brought water and the chemicals required for life to an embryonic Earth.
Sixty-five million years ago the reign of the Dinosaurs was brought to an end by the comet that fell on the Yucatan Peninsular. In doing so, the comet enabled mice like mammals to begin an evolutionary trail that would one day see mankind assume a similar and contemporary dominance.
One day our species may find itself at its evolutionary terminus and who knows whether a comet, yet undiscovered languishing icy-cold in the great Oort Cloud, will have a hand in it?
In the meantime, try and see this beautiful solar system traveler as it serenely passes our home planet. It will not return to our part of the Solar System for at least 110,000 years!
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| Inverted black and white image to enhance comets tail |
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| View from St Michael's Church Graveyard Oulton Broad over Waveney Marshes. The comet just a pin-prick of light above the horizon and the new Moon illuminated by sunlight and earthshine high above. |
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