Comet ISON

[sky otter]

nice long explanatory article with charts and vids
.. I only picked out a few pieces of info


http://www.space.com/19973-comet-ison.html


Editor's Update (Sept. 24): Comet ISON is nearing its closest approach to Mars, with a fleet of NASA and European spacecraft poised to track the comet's Red Planet Flyby. Comet ISON will approach within 6.5 million miles (10.4 million kilometers) when it buzzes Mars on Oct. 1.




> Comet ISON will make an appearance in Earth's sky in 2013  While it's hard to predict just how bright the comet will be when it arrives, some astronomers are saying that it could be as bright as the full moon or perhaps, even visible in daylight.

> The comet is named after a telescope for the International Scientific Optical Network. Two Russians spotted ISON through a 15.7-inch (0.4-meter) reflecting telescope from that organization.

> ISON is considered a "sungrazer," meaning that it will pass very close to the sun when it gets into the inner solar system in November 2013.

some article highlights

>   ISON is expected to get as close as 800,000 miles (1.2 million km) from the sun's surface, providing it survives the gravitational forces or the sun's radiation. That closest approach will take place on Nov. 28, 2013.

>   Every comet also has a name assigned to it by the International Astronomical Union that includes features such as the year of discovery. ISON's official name is Comet C/2012 S1.

>  "The most exciting aspect of this new comet concerns its preliminary orbit, which bears a striking resemblance to that of the 'Great Comet of 1680,'" wrote SPACE.com skywatching columnist Joe Rao in a September 2012 article

>  What's known for sure, however, is ISON poses no threat to Earth. At its closest approach it will still be 40 million miles (64 million km) from Earth, just under half the distance between the planet and the sun.

Multiple comet discoverer David Levy, who was on the team to spot Shoemaker-Levy 9, offered up this bit of advice to SPACE.com concerning comets: "Comets are like cats; they have tails, and they do precisely what they want.".

......................................



also only parts of article here.. read entire article at the link



http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/unknowncountry-weekender-coming-comet-ison-astronomy-and-astrology


Unknowncountry Weekender: The Coming of Comet Ison in Astronomy and Astrology
Friday, September 27, 2013
We are getting a sense of astronomical déjà vu here at Unknown Country: Comet ISON is looming in our skies and already there are rumors of an accompanying spaceship, or even that the heavenly body itself is not a comet at all but a triangular-shaped UFO. Such stories are not presently supported by any published scientific findings.

.......Contrary to the internet rumors already starting about ISON, there is presently no convincing evidence that any sort of large object is accompanying it. Even if such an object is observed, it's likely to be the same as the others that are seen near comets--simply a natural phenomenon. However, if such things as starships exist, they would need water, and following an outgassing comet as it approaches a star would be one way to collect it.




....The 2nd of October is set to be the most significant astrological date as the comet will be in conjunction with Mars; this may then be a memorable day for Leos, with Sagittarians getting a blast from ISON on 2nd December as its retrograde cycle begins


Read the original source: http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/unknowncountry-weekender-coming-comet-ison-astronomy-and-astrology#ixzz2gKxAxtsR

[Shasta56]

First they say the comet poses no threat to Earth.  Then they say that comets are like cats.  They have tails and they do what they want.  Which is it?

Shasta

[zorgon]

Is Comet ISON a spacecraft?


Well... is it?  Seems they claim this is a NASA photo but haven't had time to look it up. Odd no one picked this up here yet

[sky otter]

ack-hum

see paragraph from post



.......Contrary to the internet rumors already starting about ISON, there is presently no convincing evidence that any sort of large object is accompanying it. Even if such an object is observed, it's likely to be the same as the others that are seen near comets--simply a natural phenomenon. However, if such things as starships exist, they would need water, and following an outgassing comet as it approaches a star would be one way to collect it.



yes i know no one reads links.. i've sadly been made aware of that..but i'm not posting the entire thing anymore either

as the story goes the last comet to be claimed as a starship had some folks getting rid of thier bodies so they could go with it as it passed...

i figured if anyone wanted to look it up (oh horror of horror..actual investigationg) then they would say something

sigh... i feel sooooo aloneeee....

[Pimander]

i figured if anyone wanted to look it up (oh horror of horror..actual investigationg) then they would say something

sigh... i feel sooooo aloneeee.... [/color]

Some of us (oh horror of horror) might be investigating something else and getting lonely there too.  Massive hug for the lonely Otter.

[sky otter]

hahahahahaha..
yeah i hear ya

and thanks i'll take the hug and right back at ya

[Shasta56]

I just want to know if it's non-threatening, or if it's going to act like a cat.  Those two conditions are mutually exclusive.

Furry hugs to the lonely.

Shasta

[Pimander]

Furry hugs to the lonely.

I'm into group hugs..... but only with claws retracted. 

[Shasta56]

Okay, the claws are retracted.  I promise.

Shasta

[zorgon]

Latest viral photo of Comet ISON

[Shasta56]

It's interesting.

Shasta

[Pimander]

I haven't looked at ISON yet.  I am intrigued by the pictures but without knowing what type of picture that last one is I'm not even sure what it is telling me.  If I get an hour free I'll try to find out what that shows.

[zorgon]

Same here... just gathering what is out there.  I know others here will have time to dig

[sky otter]

ok.. i wanna know what happens when it interacts with the sun..would there be any affect to earth?
hummmmmmm more searching, i guess


http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyblog/newsblog/Comet-ISON-to-Fly-By-Mars-225022822.html

By the Numbers

The Mars flyby is the first of several close encounters:



Oct. 1st: Comet ISON sails 10.8 million km from the Martian surface


Nov. 19th: ISON will pass closest to Mercury, with Messenger as its witness.


Nov. 28th: Comet ISON whips through the outer solar corona, passing within 1.2 million km of the Sun's visible surface.


Dec. 26th: Assuming the comet survives its graze past the Sun, it'll pass 64.2 million km from Earth (167 times farther than the Moon).


Watch this animation from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio to see two views of the comet's trajectory through the inner solar system:



......................................


http://www.space.com/22403-comet-ison-s-mars-buzz-orbiter-and-rovers-on-lookout-video.html

................................
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/mars-spacecraft-snaps-images-comet-ison-heading-toward-sun-8C11332738
Mars spacecraft snaps images of Comet ISON heading toward sun
Miriam Kramer Space.com
Oct. 3, 2013 at 5:40 PM ET


NASA / JPL / Univ. of Ariz.
On Sept. 29, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera at Comet ISON and produced these new images of the possible "comet of a century."
A probe in orbit around Mars spotted Comet ISON — a possible "comet of the century" — as it flew past the Red Planet on its way to give the sun a close shave come November.


On Sept. 29, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed its High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera at Comet ISON — a speeding ball of ice and dirt flying through the solar system — to make observations and measure its brightness.

Although the ISON may look like a fuzzy blob in the new photos produced by HiRISE, scientists can still glean important information from the images sent to Earth from Mars. [Photos of Comet ISON: A Potentially Great Comet]  http://www.space.com/19372-comet-ison-photos-2013-great-comet.html

"Based on preliminary analysis of the data, the comet appears to be at the low end of the range of brightness predictions for the observation," officials in charge of the HiRISE instrument wrote in a release. "As a result, the image isn't visually pleasing but low coma activity is best for constraining the size of the nucleus."

At the moment, ISON is making its closest approach to the Red Planet. The comet is now flying about 7 million miles (1.1 million kilometers) off the surface of Mars and HiRISE scientists are planning on observing ISON three more times as it makes its close pass.

Comet ISON is a bit dimmer than many observers hoped it would be at this point in its shot toward the sun, but hope is not lost for the promising comet. As ISON comes closer to the sun, more of its ice is expected to evaporate, making the comet even brighter.

The comet will make its closest approach of the sun on Nov. 28, flying just 730,000 miles (1.2 million km) off the star's surface.

Many skywatchers hope that Comet ISON will brighten significantly, giving observers on Earth a brilliant show. Skywatchers have mixed reviews of the comet's current activity, however. Some amateur astronomers think that Comet ISON will be absolutely stunning in December while others think it's fizzling out.

Comet ISON's future brightness   http://www.space.com/19796-comet-ison-explained-infographic.html

is particularly difficult to predict because of its origins. Scientists suspect that the comet comes from the Oort Cloud, a mass of icy bodies orbiting the sun trillions of miles from the inner solar system. Occasionally, like ISON, one of these comets is flung on a course toward the sun.

Because Comet ISON has never been this close to the sun before, it's hard to know whether it will brighten or fizzle under the relatively intense heat it is experiencing on its way toward the sun.

These HiRISE observations are part of an extended campaign keeping an eye on the comet. NASA, the European Space Agency, amateur astronomers and other space agencies around the world are pitching in to observe the potentially dazzling comet as it flies though the solar system. ESA's Mars Express spacecraft began its observation campaign on Sept. 21 and was expected to be in a good position to see the comet's close flyby of the Red Planet.

When ISON makes its way around the sun, solar-observing telescopes such as the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory will keep an eye out for the comet. The Venus Express spacecraft and Proba-2 in Earth's orbit will also try to catch sight of Comet ISON in November and December.

Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

Potentially Dazzling Comet ISON: 8 Essential Facts
Comet ISON's Mars 'Buzz' - Orbiter and Rovers on Lookout | Video
Amazing Comet Photos of 2013 by Stargazers

[sky otter]

found this  while look for ison stuff.. holy sky show.. this ought to get the end-of-times-folk going for sure


the potential to see more than 1,000 meteors per hour under ideal conditions



http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/173316061.html

HOMEPAGE OBSERVING by Kelly Beatty

Meteor Storm Brewing for 2014?On May 24, 2014, Earth will plow through a dense stream of dust particles shed by Comet 209P/LINEAR. Dynamicists think the crossing could result in an intense meteor shower — maybe even a "storm" — and North Americans will have front-row seats.

Over the past two decades, celestial dynamicists have gotten very good at divining when meteoric activity will spike. Their computer models can track how dust ejected by a comet near each perihelion pass gets distributed into strands of particles over time. Their calculations show that dust tends to stay concentrated close to the nucleus, and that the strands themselves often converge in space close to the orbit's perihelion.

Now these number-crunchers are telling us make sure May 24, 2014, is circled on our skywatching calendars. On that date, we might experience the most dramatic display of "shooting stars" in more than a decade.


According to predictions, a little-known comet will pass perihelion in early May of 2014 and, two weeks later, sandblast Earth with dust particles spread along its orbit.

NASA / JPL / HorizonsThe source of all this buzz is a little-known periodic comet called 209P/LINEAR. Discovered by an automated sky survey in 2004, it follows a looping but relatively tight path that carries it just inside Earth's orbit every 5.04 years. According to dynamicist Syuichi Nakano, Comet 209P/LINEAR's next perihelion occurs on May 6, 2014, at a point 0.969 astronomical unit from the Sun and with Earth not far away.

Just 18 days later, we should cross through dozens of particle streams shed during past orbits. The predictions are still rough, but three different models suggest the sky show could be spectacular. "All the trails ejected between 1803 and 1924 cross Earth's path in May 2014," notes Jérémie Vaubaillon (IMCEE, France). "As a consequence, this shower might as well be a storm," with the potential to see more than 1,000 meteors per hour under ideal conditions.

That's the same conclusion reached by Russian meteor sleuth Mikhail Maslov, who thinks at least 100 to 400 meteors — and quite possibly many more — should rain down per hour. But he cautions that Comet 209P/LINEAR is small and hasn't been observed much. Moreover, outbursts of meteors linked to this comet haven't been noted in the past.

The potential for a strong showing in 2014 was first pointed out by meteor specialists Esko Lyytinen and Peter Jenniskens, but detailed calculations by Vaubaillon and Maslov have heightened the anticipation.


This perspective shows the hemisphere of Earth that will be facing the incoming dust particles from Comet 209P/LINEAR when the activity peaks on May 24, 2014. Skywatchers in southern Canada and the continental U.S. will be especially well positioned to watch the sky show.
Mikhail MaslovThe best part of all this prognostication, at least from a U.S. perspective, is that the meteor display should peak between 7:00 and 8:00 Universal Time on May 24th — it'll be dark across virtually all of North America. The meteors' apparent point of origin (radiant) will be quite far north in declination (in Camelopardalis, says Vaubaillon), again favoring the U.S. and Canada. And the Moon will be a narrow waning sliver just a few days from new. Everything is "go" for the best meteor display since the dramatic Leonid showers of the late 1990s.

So what will it take to refine estimates of how many "209P-id" meteors we might see? More observations of the comet's nucleus will certainly help. Unfortunately, right now it's well beyond the orbit of Mars and a dauntingly faint 22nd magnitude. But with such a dramatic performance predicted for 2014, don't be surprised if professional astronomers start slewing their best weapons its way in the coming months.


Posted by Kelly Beatty, October 9, 2012
related content: Celestial events
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