Comet PANSTARRS 2013 Photos: More 'Best Views' on Flickr, Catch it with Crescent Moon

Comet PANSTARRS, also known as C/2011 L4, is a non-periodic comet, which means it would show up only once in a lifetime. Astrophotographers up North have been taking advantage of the waxing crescent moon to take stunning photos of PANSTARRS. The comet gave the most stunning view with the New Moon on Mar. 13 in the sunset sky of the Northern Hemisphere.

PANSTARRS will not get close to Earth. Its closest distance is at 170 million kilometers. But the length of its tail of space dust is about 10 times the size of the planet. The photo above was taken by Kevin Greene of thekevingreene.com on Mar. 10 in California.

PANSTARRS "will appear as a bright point of light with its diffuse tail pointing nearly straight up from the horizon like an exclamation point," says NASA.

Skyandtelescope.com is encouraging astrophotographers to make time for the PANSTARRS while timing is still good. "It's moving a little higher out of the bright depths of twilight every day now," the site advised.

If you want to try taking photos of the comet, get some tips from Flickr account holders whose comet and night sky snaps are on the site. IB Times has rounded up the photo hosting site for the best comet photos. Follow this link for the first part of the PANSTARRS compilation. IB Times thanks the astrophotographers on Flickr who agreed to share with IBT readers their stunning photos. (Kudos and thank you, dear photographers.)

"This is my very first use of a new software (Nebulosity 3) so I'll need more trials until I fully master the editing process," writes Seabird NZ aka Ben. He took PANSTARRS snaps on Mar. 5 from Allandale, Canterbury, New Zealand. The rest of the photos are from the U.S.

Here's another photo from James Davis of Arizona. He took this photo on Mar. 12.

John Rising has captured a dramatic view of PANSTARRS over the Collegiate Peaks in Colorado.

Kurt Harvey took this photo on Mar. 12. He also managed to compose his PANSTARRS photo with the beautiful waxing crescent moon.

Which PANSTARRS comet photo is your favorite from our Flickr compilation? Compose your own souvenir photo while time is still on your side.

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