Comet PanSTARRS (C/2012 K1) has been steadily brightening over the last few months and is now visible with small telescopes and large binoculars (e.g.15x70s or 20x80s). For most of June, the comet is well placed for observation in the early evening sky from the Northern Hemisphere and tropics. It's also visible from the Southern Hemisphere, but more difficult since it's lower down.

PanSTARRS was discovered on May 17, 2012 by astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) located on the island of Maui in Hawaii. At discovery, it's apparent magnitude was a feeble +19.7 and it was located 8.7 AU (1.3 billion kilometres or 800 million miles) from the Sun, far beyond the orbit of Jupiter and almost as distant as Saturn.

Location and star chart

PanSTARRS is currently moving in a southwestern direction. At the beginning of June, the comet shone at magnitude +8.3 and was located at the southwest corner of Ursa Major. On June 7th, PanSTARRS then crossed the border into the small faint constellation of Leo Minor where it remains until June 22nd. On this date, it enters Leo and remains there for the rest of the month. It's estimated that PanSTARRS will have brightened slightly to magnitude +8.1 during this time. This puts the comet easily within the range of small telescopes and large binoculars, although too faint to be seen with the naked eye.

For Northern Hemisphere observers, PanSTARRS appears fairly high in the sky towards the west just after sunset during the first three weeks of June. However, as the month closes in the comet will become increasingly more difficult to spot as it battles against the bright twilight sky. From equatorial regions during June, PanSTARRS is well placed but from southern temperate latitudes it always appears low down towards the northern sky.

PanSTARRS will round the Sun on August 27, 2014 (date of perihelion) after which it switches to the morning sky. It's expected to reach maximum brightness of about magnitude +6.0 in October 2014; at the limit of naked eye visibility but easily seen with 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars.

The finder chart below shows the positions of PanSTARRS from June 9 to July 27, 2014.

Comet PanStarrs (C/2012 K1) Finder Chart from June 9 to July 27, 2014 - pdf format

C/2012 K1 (PanSTARRS) Data (at epoch August 11, 2014)

Comet (C/2012 K1) PanSTARRS Data Table