Amazing Comet Photos of 2013 by Stargazers

Comet ISON Nucleus on Oct. 9

John Chumack | www.galacticimages.com

John Chumack sent SPACE.com this photo of comet ISON’s nucleus taken on the morning of Oct. 9 from his dark-sky site at John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs, Ohio. “I’m excited to see what comet ISON will do in the next 60 days,” he wrote SPACE.com in an email. He used a QHY8 cooled single shot color CCD camera and his homemade 16" Diameter F4.5 Newt. Telescope to take the image.

Comet Pan-STARRS on March 2, 2013

© Luis Argerich/Nightscape Photography

Astrophotographer Luis Argerich of Buenos Aires, Argentina, took this photo of Comet Pan-STARRS taken on March 2, 2013. He writes: "Easy to see with the naked eye from rural locations."

Comet Pan-STARRS C/2011 L4

Terry Lovejoy/Australia

Comet Pan-STARRS C/2011 L4, discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope on Haleakala in June 2011, is expected to become visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere in March. The comet is currently visible in the Southern Hemisphere.

Comet Lemmon Seen in New Zealand

John Drummond

Astrophotographer John Drummond sent in his photo of Comet Lemmon taken on Jan. 23, 2013, in New Zealand.

Comet Pan-STARRS Seen in Buenos Aires

© Luis Argerich/Nightscape Photography

Astrophotographer Luis Argerich of Buenos Aires, Argentina, took this photo of Comet Pan-STARRS taken on March 2, 2013. He writes: "While the tail was still short it was easy to see with the naked eye and very bright."

Comet Lemmon Seen in Auckland, New Zealand.

Brent Russell/SkySlab Observatory

Brent Russell of SkySlab Observatory, Auckland, New Zealand, provides this photo of Comet Lemmon taken Feb. 17, 2013. He writes: "Currently it is binocular visible in the city suburbs, not naked eye."

Comet Pan-STARRS Telescope Photo

Science@NASA

A telescope photo of comet Pan-STARRS, which may become visible to the naked eye in March 2013.

Comet Pan-STARRS Seen in Buenos Aires #2

© Luis Argerich/Nightscape Photography

Astrophotographer Luis Argerich of Buenos Aires, Argentina, took this photo of Comet Pan-STARRS taken on March 2, 2013. He writes: "Comet Pan-STARRS was visible from about 8:15 pm to 9 pm above the western horizon."

Comets Lemmon and Pan-STARRS Together at Last

Justin Tilbrook

Astrophotographer Justin Tilbrook of Penwortham, South Australia, caught this photo of Comets Lemmon (bottom left) and Pan-STARRS (right near the Small Magellanic Cloud) together on Feb. 17. 2013. He writes: "This is the one I've been waiting for…. Don't mind saying it was difficult to set this up, a narrow window before sunrise, 4 degrees of hill in the way, limitations with the dome slit and having to mount the camera at the front of the scope at a very odd angle. Took about an hour."

The Comet and the Laser

G.Hüdepohl (atacamaphoto.com)/ESO

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) tested a new laser for the VLT on Feb. 14, 2013. To the right of the centre of the image, just below the Small Magellanic Cloud, streaks comet Lemmon.

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