Tag Archives: Astronomy

ISON close-up

26 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Lessons, News update, Science, Universe

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The comet that is approaching, C/2012 S1, also known as Comet ISON and as Comet Nevski–Novichonok is thought by many a scientist to carry the pristine matter from the beginning of our solar system.

On Thanksgiving (a U.S. Holiday celebrated on November 28 this year) ISON will pass as close to our sun as 730,000 miles. Meantime it is heating up as it moves ever closer.

The latest speculation is on what will survive as the comet grazes the sun’s atmospheric (tidal wave) influences. Will it be destroyed, damaged, melted, or what?

.CometISON-Nov14-animation.

ISON was named after the International Scientific Optical Network that was used by a pair of Russian astronomers to detect the comet in September 2012. It’s official name is C/2012 S1, indicating when it was discovered. The name Nevski–Novichonok comes from the names of the Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok that first discovered the comet.

Every lens in this part of the universe perhaps is trained on ISON. The Mars bound Maven spacecraft launched on November 18 may even capture ISON images during the second week of December as the spacecraft continues its journey toward Mars. MAVEN is the first spacecraft devoted to exploring the Martian upper atmosphere. Its trip to Mars will take 10 months and MAVEN is expected to begin an orbit around Mars in September of 2014.

Whatever becomes of ISON, I am sure that its coming will herald in new science regarding the forming and behavior of comets. I’d like to keep the focus on ISON for now though.

Thanks for learning with me.

New post Eric

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Comet ISON on target for a really BIG show

23 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by in Heaven, Lessons, News update, Science, Universe

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CometWatch, an app for iPhone and iPad can help to point comet-gazer users in the right direction for Comet ISON. The exact path of the comet is still very speculative. Its tail may enter Earth’s orbit or perhaps miss the Earth by a long shot. Its brightness will be intense enough to be seen from Earth — for sure. In fact it will be very bright and visible right at Christmas time.

ISON began its journey from the Oort cloud of icy objects that are in solar orbit far beyond Neptune. That was about a million years ago. This is ISON’s first trip through the inner solar system.

Comet-ISON-November-22

On November 28, Comet ISON will pass less that 750,000 miles from the Sun and it may be traveling at as much as 175,000 mph as it swings about the sun. On Thanksgiving, the sun-grazer comet’s swing around the sun may cause changes to it and the debris field (tail).

Its a BIG unknown as to what may happen as the comet comes close to our sun. Most likely, at least some of it will survive.

By early December, ISON will be visible in both the evening and morning skies and December 26, it will be less that 40 million miles from Earth. The comet has apparently picked up lots of extra debris from the asteroid belt.

Program Description
Comet’s ISON’s recent outburst of activity has done more than simply brighten the comet. Whatever exploded from the comet’s core also created a spectacularly-long tail, more than 16 million kilometers (139 million miles) from end to end. Its the largest comet — ever. As the comet swings around the sun, expect the unexpected. This is uncharted territory.

[I love the reverb voice in the first video — spooky stuff at a distance]

Use these tools to learn more:

Perihelion and Distance Live 
Interactive Model & View From Earth = MUST SEE!
ISON Fact Page

You may also learn more at NASA:
A Timeline Of Comet ISON’s Dangerous Journey

Thanks for reading,

New post Eric

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