There?s a lot of excitement about Comet ISON, which might become a very bright comet, visible across the globe, by the end of 2013. But, before that happens, Comet PANSTARRS should be visible to the eye alone ? low in the west after sunset ? when it?s closest to the sun in March of 2013. The Southern Hemisphere has been seeing PANSTARRS already for some weeks. Now the latitudes where Comet PANSTARRS can be seen low after sunset are moving northward each day. According to skyandtelescope.com on March 7:

Long awaited Comet PANSTARRS (C/2011 L4) now looks likely to break 2nd magnitude at its brightest around March 10, when it will still be low in the western evening twilight for Northern Hemisphere observers.

How bright is 2nd magnitude? It?s bright enough to see with the eye!

Just remember that comets are notoriously difficult to predict. As comet-hunter David Levy once famously said:

Comets are like cats; they have tails, and they do precisely what they want.

http://earthsky.org/space/comet-panstar ... march-2013

Free software to plot positions of Comets PANSTARRS and ISCON this year:

PANSTARRS C/2011 L4 Astrology Viewer
http://www.inner-sky.com/panstarrsastrology.html

ISON Comet of 2013 Astrology Viewer
http://www.inner-sky.com/isonastrology.html
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How bright is 2nd magnitude? It?s bright enough to see with the eye!

Mag. 2 is about as bright as the main stars of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. While it is possible to view stars with the naked eye down to about mag. 5 or 6, this is rarely the case due to local atmospheric disturbances. Besides, conditions for observing faint objects are not optimal during twilight - only in the middle of the night or in midst of darkness.

However, we could be fortunate considering that Comet PANSTARRS is visable as an evening star so close to the vernal equinox. Chances are that it's height in relation to the local horizon after Sunset is improved.

If anyone gets a glimpse of it, it would be nice to hear.

Went comet-spotting this evening in temperatures down to -10C.
No success I am afraid, but I couldn't wait until complete darkness. It would appear it didn't take much to toss a Pope, but the appearance of a comet at such a time would be in agreement with the classical maxim.
Source: Storm.no

The comet can be faintly seen in the left hand courner.
Photo: Haakon Dahle, Canary Islands.

Princess Lilian of Sweden died at the age of 97 on Sunday, March 10.
Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, died March 5. In China Xi Jinping is elected new president. In Israel a new coalition. In Tunisia a new government.

Nothing neccessarily related to the appearance of Comet PANSTARRS, just seems as if a lot of things were in the flow with epochs comng to an end and new beginnings. Also, it is reportedtoday that the last remaining assasin of Adolf Hitler has passed away.

Hi Andrew,

Yes good point. Major naked eye comets are linked to social transformation, and 'regime change'. I think the real biggies here are the death of Hugo Chavez, the election of the new Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and the election of Pope Francis I. The comet was visible in the southern hemisphere first so although it was a week ago the death of Hugo Chavez fits.

The Pope in particular fits the symbolism well as the first non-European elected in 1300 years.

Mark

out with the old and in with the new.. sounds like a positively pisces to aries transition as well.

reminds me of nixx's comment which could be applied across the board on this site too..

Nixx wrote: 12 Astrologers involved with little common ground, 11 are (mostly) deluded or all 12 are, you decide ?