Tootfinder

A Potential Signature of HD 7977's Passage Among Observed Long-Period #Comet Orbits: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.25069 -> Long-Period Comets’ Orbits Reflect Close Passage by Star HD 7977: https://www.psi.edu/blog/long-period-comets-orbits-reflect-close-passage-by-star-hd-7977/

The #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) will soon leave the FOV of CCOR-1: cropped pictures from 18:15 and 21:30 UTC on 25 April - and the also the bottom of https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2026/04/15/das-zodiakallicht-hinter-dem-mond-und-die-venus/ for many more images!

Byebye, #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS), now also exiting the LASCO C3 FOV: time lapses at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1006143605637463 and https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1991576091447497, a 9:30 UTC still with the funny new tail feature better visible at https://bsky.app/profile/huubeggen.bsky.social/post/3mkfkihl36c2g, CCOR time lapses at https://x.com/frapepppemaria/status/2048282309007167965 and https://x.com/swnews/status/2048180407045390411 and https://bsky.app/profile/aretsch.bsky.social/post/3mke2h5qxfk2d and a HI2 time lapse - with the plasma tail wagging - at https://x.com/swnews/status/2048007525757604173.

The #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) is now also in the field of view of the coronagraph CCOR-1: https://ccor.nrl.navy.mil/ccor_realtime/last_image_MinBckgnd.png = the latest image (the one here is from 14:00 UTC), https://ccor.nrl.navy.mil/realtime-movie = an animation up to now (and see https://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/1024/latest.html for the LASCO C3 view).

The #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) is joined by a nice CME in the CCOR-1 image from 22:00 UTC.

Attempting to pick #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) ouf of dawn today in MŸn at 55°N, at 4:13, :33 and :39 CEDT: solar depressions 14.5°, 12 1/3° and 11 3/4°, comet elevations 7 1/3°, 10° and 10 3/4° - so darker sky is more important that higher elevation. Visually the comet was underwhelming in 11x70 binoculars: that's certainly one for (bigger) cameras, not the eye. And the viewing window is closing fast anyway.

The most interesting #comet right now, C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS), imaged by Michael Jäger and Gerald Rhemann on the morning of 9 April in Martinsberg, Lower Austria with a 12"/4 Lacerta-Newton QHY 600 - the brightness at that time was around 5.5 mag. so the hoped-for forward scattering surge is much subdued ... too little dust in the coma? If it stays that way the coma brightness would only rise by another magnitude or so before the comet is lost in the twilight mid-month - but enjoy its great plasma tail (even accessible to low-end smart telescopes, by the way) while you can.

What #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) looks like now - for a 12-inch telescope in Namibia last evening, by Gerald Rhemann & Michael Jäger: the dust tail, lacking the forward scatter enhancement around solar conjunction, is invisible again, the plasma tail is just as gorgeous as in April.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #NightTracks
Giovanni de Macque & Comet Musicke:
🎵 Capriccio sopra re fa mi sol
#GiovannideMacque #CometMusicke
https://open.spotify.com/track/7L5gttBpYVK8oKoJY2e7wq

The #comet 220P/McNaught has suffered a major outburst and shines now - in this Rhemann / Jäger image from a few hours ago with a faint plasma tail even - at about 8th magnitude: https://groups.io/g/comets-ml/topic/119599952 = a thread, https://bsky.app/profile/lukemeister.bsky.social/post/3mndaubc3yc2o = the light curve, https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=26645019731865080 and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10240107345718051 and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2951292725202094 and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4432053177009520 and https://x.com/kpheider/status/2061792077248360768 = pictures from 2 June.

Electron Affinity of the Carbon Dimer from Threshold Photodetachment Spectroscopy: #comet spectra) -> Prä­zi­si­ons­mes­sung lie­fert neuen Rekord­wert: https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/newsroom/2026/prazisionsmessung-liefert-neuen-rekordwert/ - ein Team um den Inns­bru­cker Physiker Roland Wester hat eine funda­men­tale Eigen­schaft des Kohlen­stoff-Dimers mit bisher uner­reichter Genau­ig­keit im Labor bestimmt.

What #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) - more pictures from the 28th in https://www.danilopivato.com/solar_system/comets/c2025_r3_panstarrs/2026.03.28.html and https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=34496897756622967 and https://x.com/hositosorekara/status/2037645491253780614 and https://www.facebook.com/groups/227002358661288/posts/1726756352019207 - may be up to brightness-wise and what the viewing geometry will be in central Europe: explanations in https://skyweek.wordpress.com/2026/03/26/allgemeines-live-blog-ab-dem-26-marz-2026/#Mar29

Lots of fascinating detail in the plasma tail of #comet C/2025 R3 (PANSTARRS) this morning in an image by Christoph Gerhard with a 30-cm telescope: https://www.klostersternwarte.de/aktuelles/ein-überraschender-komet-c-2025-r3-panstarrs - this one will stay with us (Northerners) for another three week low before/at dawn before getting lost in the Sun's glare (when dust forward scattering could brighten it even more).