Newly spotted comet may outshine the full moon

New Scientist ^ | Tuesday, September 25, 2012 | Jeff Hecht

[SunkenCiv]

Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, of the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) in Russia, discovered comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) on 21 September via images taken with a 40-centimetre reflecting telescope. Other sky-watchers soon spotted it, and the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, announced the find yesterday.

From the combined observations, astronomers were able to trace the comet's recent path and find images of it dating back to late December 2011. From there they calculated a near-parabolic orbit that has comet ISON headed almost straight towards the sun.

Astronomers at the Remanzacco Observatory in Italy think that ISON will skim less than 1.4 million kilometres from the sun's surface on 28 or 29 November...

As with Lulin, the intense heat of ISON's solar fly-by should vaporise the comet's hard shell of pristine ices, releasing trapped dust that would help it grow an exceptionally bright tail. Astronomy Now magazine reports that comet ISON could even be brighter than the full moon around its closest approach to the sun.

Skirting our star means that, to viewers on Earth, the comet will appear close to the horizon and to the sun's glare, making it difficult to see at first. ISON will fade but become easier to spot as it heads back towards the outer solar system. By 9 December it should be about as bright as Polaris, the North Star, according to Remanzacco Observatory astronomers. ISON should continue to be visible to the unaided eye until mid-January 2014.

But veteran astronomers warn that fresh comets with orbits that almost skim the sun are notoriously unpredictable. Results can range from the spectacular comet McNaught of January 2007 to the infamously fizzled comet Kohoutek of 1973.

[Kirkwood]

Comet West was excellent in early 1976.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_West

[Inyo-Mono]

Kohoutek was definitely visible to the naked eye in the US. I remember it quite well and somewhere I have photographs of it.

You're right. I was in college then, and our geology class went out to Death Valley and watched Kohoutek cross the sky, in daylight.

[no-to-illegals]

FRiend I never made a statement regarding this comet was going to hit Earth. That is God's decision. I have no idea. btw ... hypothetically speaking, if one was headed toward Earth would everyone be told?

As far as Newton is concerned, my preference is Einstein.

Am not looking for a fight FRiend, just playing late on the puter. If you are looking for a fight, please go at it. I'll just watch. LOL

[One Name]

That was Chernobyl- check a russian-english dictionary...

[no-to-illegals]

Quite a letdown.

Agreement, regarding Halley's Comet. That one was taught for years, in school, that it (the comet) would be spectacular. What a disappointment. Was told over and over it will be visible with the naked eye. Then it was not. Disappointment out the wazzooo!

[AndrewB]

Don’t tease me. I still have not recovered from the disappointment of Kohoutek.

[X-spurt]

That's Hale-Bopp, Halley's is a different comet.

Lucky to see Halley's on a cold night in East Texas and Hale-Bopp from about 35,000 feet over the Aleutians.

[One Name]

Hale-Bopp; followed undetected in the tail was a spaceship coming for the Heaven’s Gate faithful..

[smokingfrog]

[Revolting cat!]

I thought they wuz dead!

[Godebert]

"I saw Halley Bop in zero light pollution in the desert at Ft Irwin."

OPFOR bad guy?

[no-to-illegals]

Dang, the teacher was correct. They are visible. Thanks cat, I was wrong. Did they land about 1986? Ah, I can't do that, even for the teachers in chicago. Teacher, leave them kids alone! All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

[X-spurt]

Guess it depended on where you were. Halley's was distinctly visible, although small, naked eye. Would have been a killer to see it when we passed though the tail in 1830’s.

[montanajoe]

I remember the run up to Kohoutek, its was going to be the Comet of the century, outshine Haley in 1910...but it was just a chunk of mud.

I like comets but seeing is believing.

[no-to-illegals]

my apology SunkenCiv. Have gone and went off topic. my apology.

[no-to-illegals]

I tried several nights to see Halley's. Went to the darkest area could find, and saw nothing. Was disappointed to no end. Still not over it, though Hale Bop was nice. Had my youngest with me on viewing it over the course of six or more nights. The conversations were wonderful, and the child became a Conservative. Come to think of it, all of my children became Conservatives. I am blessed.

[Swordmaker]

I am quite disappointed that astronomers are STILL pushing the completely erroneous idea that comets have “ice” that melts and evaporates to form the tail... After all the fly-bys, contacts and even destructive impact testing we have done on comets and found NO ICE! None, nada. Nil!

Comets flare in relation to the electrical activity of the sun and the solar wind. Cometary tails and comas are plasma phenomena and are electrical in nature. They exhibit all of the characteristics of plasmas and can even be demonstrated in the laboratory, simulated in computer modeling using plasma math, and photographs of comets show they are indistinguishable from any normal asteroid, except in orbital dynamics.

They are NOT dirty snowballs. They are charged bodies of rock, emitting electrons as they enter a differently charged area of the solar system, electrically machining the surface and carrying charged ions away. The solar wind repels these like charged ions away from the sun, creating the tail.

The universe is driven by electromagnetism, a force that is 39 orders of magnitude more powerful than gravity.

[no-to-illegals]

The universe is driven by electromagnetism

Am wondering if that is the key to warp drive, as in attraction and repulsion?

[Daffynition]

Is a *spotted comet* more rare than a spotted owl? Should it be protected?

I'd like to apply for a government grant to study this. :_)

[Hardraade]

I don’t have any use for a comet I can’t aim.