Comet PanSTARRS 2013; Comet Visible with Naked Eye in Northern Hemisphere March 7-13
Comet PanSTARRS is already visible to the naked eye to stargazers in the southern hemisphere and soon can be seen from northern areas of Earth.
The comet, known as C/2011 L4 PanSTARRS, was first discovered in 2011 by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii and has the ability to shine brighter than the North Star Polaris.
Karl Battams of the Naval Research Laboratory told NBC News that the newly discovered comet will be one of two comets to be seen this year.
"In an ordinary year, this comet would be grabbing the headlines, but most people are so worked up over ISON that this one is getting short-changed a little," Battams said in reference to the Comet ISON set to appear in November. "It should be a good one though. ... For us urban dwellers, we might need to dust off the binoculars to get a decent look."
Some of the first observations were reported by science journalist Mariano Ribas, according to Sky and Telescope.
"Since last night (Feb. 28th) comet PanSTARRS is a naked-eye object in the Buenos Aires sky, despite its low altitude (a few degrees over the SW horizon at evening twilight) and the strong urban light pollution," Ribas wrote. "I estimated it a magnitude around 2.8. Almost a full magnitude brighter than just 3 days ago!"
The comet is expected to put on a bright astronomical show starting around March 7 in the northern hemisphere, according to Astronomy.com.
Comet PanSTARRS will pass within 28 million miles of the Sun and show in the night sky as a yellowish light with a bright center and flashy tail.
Around March 9 it will be best seen in the vicinity of the moon around a half hour after sunset. The comet will move from the upper left to the lower right of the crescent moon until around March 13, which will s be the best night to view the glowing celestial orb.