A trio of targets for autumn nights

Though fairly faint, these three icy objects are worth some telescope time.

by David Seargent

Early autumn should see three comets within visual reach of backyard telescopes for southern observers. Two of them will probably be accessible to moderate-sized binoculars, given favourable sky conditions. The third will be somewhat fainter, though still within the reach of 20cm reflectors according to current predictions. The long-visible C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) begins autumn in the faint constellation Horologium at a predicted magnitude within the range 8.5 to 9. Moving slowly as it recedes from the Sun, it will cross into neighbouring Eridanus at the end of the third week of March, remaining within that constellation for the rest of March and April period. It is expected to have faded to around magnitude 10 by the end of April. The second relatively bright comet to grace our autumn skies will be C/2022…

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Australian Sky & Telescope (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2023

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