Ison - comet of the century

TrackerSam · Dec 29, 2012

A comet discovered by two Russian astronomers will be visible from Earth next year. Get ready for a once-in-a lifetime light show, says David Whitehouse.

At the moment it is a faint object, visible only in sophisticated telescopes as a point of light moving slowly against the background stars. It doesn't seem much a frozen chunk of rock and ice one of many moving in the depths of space. But this one is being tracked with eager anticipation by astronomers from around the world, and in a year everyone could know its name.

Comet Ison could draw millions out into the dark to witness what could be the brightest comet seen in many generations brighter even than the full Moon.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...e-ison--the-comet-of-the-century-8431443.html

Nova · Dec 29, 2012

So the Mayans were right?

IHAVENOCLUE · Dec 29, 2012

I LOVE watching the night sky...

This should be a spectacular light show!

Please keep us updated, Tracker, if convenient for you!

:gthanks:

STANDREID · Dec 29, 2012

I see that it's a long period comet so it probably won't be back for millions of years. Some speculate that it may be bright enough to be visible during the day.

Kat · Dec 30, 2012

This is exciting and fascinating too! I can't wait

wfgodot · Dec 30, 2012

We shall see. Could be a 21st c. Khoutek. (Yes, still grousing about what a disappointment that one was, back in '73.)

Kat · Dec 30, 2012

We couldn't see hale-bopp very well where we were (Germany) I don't know if you could see it better elsewhere wfg.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one.

The first thing I thought of when I read about this one was Halley's comet and Mark Twain. (I have the oddest things pop into my head from time to time hah).

wfgodot · Dec 30, 2012

Kat said:
We couldn't see hale-bopp very well where we were (Germany) I don't know if you could see it better elsewhere wfg.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one.

The first thing I thought of when I read about this one was Halley's comet and Mark Twain. (I have the oddest things pop into my head from time to time hah).

No Hale-Bopp where I was either - well, not a breathtaking display of Hale-Boppishness, I should say.

Elphaba · Dec 30, 2012

Woohoo, motivation to get out my LX200 telescope.

Hale-Bopp put on a phenomenal display for the east coast of the US. I watched it go from a dim lump of fuzz in my binoculars, to being a naked-eye object that produced an awesome sodium tail.

Nova · Dec 30, 2012

Kat said:
We couldn't see hale-bopp very well where we were (Germany) I don't know if you could see it better elsewhere wfg.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for this one.

The first thing I thought of when I read about this one was Halley's comet and Mark Twain. (I have the oddest things pop into my head from time to time hah).

Hale-bopp was easily visible on I-15, in the desert halfway between Vegas and L.A. Cars were stopped along the freeway for miles.

But it certainly wasn't as bright as the full moon. If the early reports are correct, this will be something else entirely.

STANDREID · Dec 30, 2012

It's inbound from the Oort Cloud!:what:Where's Bruce Willis?

Halley's Comet was a big disappointment for me. I'd been hearing about it since I was a kid.

Hale-Bopp was a big deal mostly with Art Bell and those neutered goofballs over at Heaven's Gate.

I believe that Hale-Bopp is a long period comet like Ison. Halley's is a short period comet and likely comes from the Kuiper Belt/Disc thus it's on roughly the same orbital plane as the planets.

IHAVENOCLUE · Dec 30, 2012

STANDREID said:
It's inbound from the Oort Cloud!:what:Where's Bruce Willis?

Halley's Comet was a big disappointment for me. I'd been hearing about it since I was a kid.

Hale-Bopp was a big deal mostly with Art Bell and those neutered goofballs over at Heaven's Gate.

I believe that Hale-Bopp is a long period comet like Ison. Halley's is a short period comet and likely comes from the Kuiper Belt/Disc thus it's on roughly the same orbital plane as the planets.

I hope you are not lumping Art Bell and Heaven's Gate in one (same) category! :wink:

STANDREID · Dec 30, 2012

:abduction:

IHAVENOCLUE said:
I hope you are not lumping Art Bell and Heaven's Gate in one (same) category! :wink:

Hmm :innocent::abduction:

HMSHood · Jan 1, 2013

STANDREID said:
It's inbound from the Oort Cloud!:what:Where's Bruce Willis?

Halley's Comet was a big disappointment for me. I'd been hearing about it since I was a kid.

Hale-Bopp was a big deal mostly with Art Bell and those neutered goofballs over at Heaven's Gate.

I believe that Hale-Bopp is a long period comet like Ison. Halley's is a short period comet and likely comes from the Kuiper Belt/Disc thus it's on roughly the same orbital plane as the planets.

I remember Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. Bright comets within a year. Hale-Bopp was brighter and had multiple tails. Hyakutake was diffused and had a longer tail than Hale-Bopp.

Comet Kohoutek in 1973 was a let down, but was not a total let down as it was quite bright at magnitude -3. Comet Austin of 1990 was a huge let down. More so than Halley's Comet in 1986.

Comet Austin
http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/..._paper=YES&type=PRINTER&filetype=.pdf

Comet Kohoutek - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HMSHood · Jan 1, 2013

Later in March of this year, there is Comet PANSTARR, which could be bright.

Egale Eye On The Sky
http://www.eagleseye.me.uk/Sky/Wordpress/?p=1922
http://www.eagleseye.me.uk/Sky/Wordpress/?p=1887

Here is a page for Comet ISON. It could be quite bright if true.

C/2012 S1 ( ISON )
http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012S1/2012S1.html

If ISON holds up to be bright, it could challenge Comet Ikeya-Seki and McNaught.

Brightest comets seen since 1935

Code:

  peak
   m1         Comet
  ----     ----------------------
(-10)       C/1965 S1 (Ikeya-Seki)
 (-5.5)     C/2006 P1 (McNaught)
  -3.0      C/1975 V1 (West)
 (-3)       C/1947 X1 (Southern comet)
 (-1)       C/1948 V1 (Eclipse comet)
 
  -0.8      C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)
 (-0.5)     C/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland)
 (-0.5)     C/2002 V1 (NEAT)
   0.0      C/1996 B2 (Hyakutake)
   0.0      C/1969 Y1 (Bennett)

  (0)       C/1973 E1 (Kohoutek)
  (0)       C/1962 C1 (Seki-Lines)
   0.5      C/1998 J1 (SOHO)
   1.0      C/1957 P1 (Mrkos)
  (1)       C/1970 K1 (White-Ortiz-Bolelli)

   1.7      C/1983 H1 (IRAS-Araki-Alcock)
  (2)       C/1941 B2 (de Kock-Paraskevopoulos)
  (2.2)     C/2002 T7 (LINEAR)
   2.4     1P/1982 U1 (Halley)
  (2.4)   17P         (Holmes)  [Oct. 2007]
 
   2.5      C/2000 WM_1 (LINEAR)
   2.7      C/1964 N1 (Ikeya)
   2.8      C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)
   2.8      C/1989 W1 (Aarseth-Brewington)
   2.8      C/1963 A1 (Ikeya)

   2.9   153P/2002 C1 (Ikeya-Zhang)
   3.0      C/2001 A2 (LINEAR)
   3.3      C/1936 K1 (Peltier)
  (3.3)     C/2004 F4 (Bradfield)
   3.5      C/2004 Q2 (Machholz)
 
   3.5      C/1942 X1 (Whipple-Fedtke-Tevzadze)
   3.5      C/1940 R2 (Cunningham)
   3.5      C/1939 H1 (Jurlof-Achmarof-Hassel)
   3.5      C/1959 Y1 (Burnham)
   3.5      C/1969 T1 (Tago-Sato-Kosaka)

   3.5      C/1980 Y1 (Bradfield)
  (3.5)     C/1961 O1 (Wilson-Hubbard)
  (3.5)     C/1955 L1 (Mrkos)
   3.6      C/1990 K1 (Levy)
   3.7      C/1975 N1 (Kobayashi-Berger-Milon)

   3.9      C/1974 C1 (Bradfield)
   3.9      C/1937 N1 (Finsler)

http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/brightest.html

Quiche · Jan 1, 2013

This might be worth taking a trip up to an area free of light pollution (and clouds!).

from the link...

Comet Ison has taken millions of years to reach us travelling from the so-called Oort cloud – a reservoir of trillions and trillions of chunks of rock and ice, leftovers from the birth of the planets. It reaches out more than a light-year – a quarter of the way to the nearest star. In the Oort cloud the Sun is but a distant point of light whose feeble gravity is just enough to hold onto the cloud. Every once in a while a tiny tug of gravity, perhaps from a nearby star or wandering object, disturbs the cloud sending some of its comets out into interstellar space to be lost forever and a few are scattered sunward. Comet Ison is making its first, and perhaps only visit to us. Its life has been cold, frozen hard and unchanging, but it is moving closer to the Sun, and getting warmer.

and

By the end of summer it will become visible in small telescopes and binoculars. By October it will pass close to Mars and things will begin to stir. The surface will shift as the ice responds to the thermal shock, cracks will appear in the crust, tiny puffs of gas will rise from it as it is warmed. The comet's tail is forming.

Slowly at first but with increasing vigour, as it passes the orbit of Earth, the gas and dust geysers will gather force. The space around the comet becomes brilliant as the ice below the surface turns into gas and erupts, reflecting the light of the Sun. Now Ison is surrounded by a cloud of gas called the coma, hundreds of thousands of miles from side to side. The comet's rotation curves these jets into space as they trail into spirals behind it. As they move out the gas trails are stopped and blown backwards by the Solar Wind.

By late November it will be visible to the unaided eye just after dark in the same direction as the setting Sun. Its tail could stretch like a searchlight into the sky above the horizon. Then it will swing rapidly around the Sun, passing within two million miles of it, far closer than any planet ever does, to emerge visible in the evening sky heading northward towards the pole star. It could be an "unaided eye" object for months.

Wow!!! I predict night picnics will become tres chic!!! It certainly will in my world!

Q: <<I wonder what kind of wine one serves with a comet?>>

A: Idk, but via the bota bag, of course, is the perfect delivery method for uninterupted imbibing when necessarily tilting your head back.

IHAVENOCLUE · Jan 1, 2013

Quiche said:
This might be worth taking a trip up to an area free of light pollution (and clouds!).

from the link...

and

Wow!!! I predict night picnics will become tres chic!!! It certainly will in my world!

Q: <<I wonder what kind of wine one serves with a comet?>>

A: Idk, but via the bota bag, of course, is the perfect delivery method for uninterupted imbibing when necessarily tilting your head back.

:toastred:

IHAVENOCLUE · Jan 1, 2013

Quiche said:
This might be worth taking a trip up to an area free of light pollution (and clouds!).

from the link...

and

Wow!!! I predict night picnics will become tres chic!!! It certainly will in my world!

Q: <<I wonder what kind of wine one serves with a comet?>>

A: Idk, but via the bota bag, of course, is the perfect delivery method for uninterupted imbibing when necessarily tilting your head back.

Comet picnics....how fun! :smile:

GannyP · Jan 1, 2013

:great: Oh goodie, I can't wait! For Hale-Bop, all I had to do was step out my back door and there it was every night for months. I loved it. And now we might see two this year, that's awesome.

legalmania · Jan 2, 2013

I hope the scientist don't try to destroy it and end up splitting it in two or something like that. Or push it closer instead of further away. Just let nature take it's course.

Ison - comet of the century

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