News

Comet Pan-STARRS arrives

(19 March 2013)

A bright comet, C/2011 L4 (Pan-STARRS), is now visible to the naked eye, low down to the West after sunset.

The comet was discovered by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii (http://ps1sc.org/). Durham University is one of 10 institutions from around the world which contribute to the Pan-STARRS project. Several astronomers in the department work on data acquired by the 1.8m instrument, which boasts the world's largest non-military digital camera.