INCOMING COMET...March 2013..
INCOMING COMET: In little more than a month, Comet PanSTARRS will cross the orbit of Mercury and probably brighten to naked-eye visibility as it absorbs the heat of the nearby sun. Sky watchers around the world will be looking for it in the sunset skies of early March, when it passes closest to the sun and to Earth. Until then a telescope is required; here is the view last night through a 0.3-meter-diameter reflector in Argentina:

[link to www.spaceweather.com]


comet-panstarrs-chart
Comet Panstarrs appears briefly in the west after sunset in March 2013. This comet appears beneath the waxing crescent moon on March 14, above the star Algenib on March 17/18, and above the star Alpheratz on March 25/26. It finally meets with the Andromeda galaxy in early April.

[link to earthsky.org]