C/2012 S1 (ison) Could Be The Brightest Comet Ever Seen By Mankind

[Boro Snow]

wow just wow ison mars and asteroid eros in the same picture 

 

[Weather-history]

Pity, comet ISON isn't going to be just 0.07AU from Earth either approaching or leaving or both! We would be certain to see it then.

[Bobby]

Amazing photo from Hubble of Comet Ison with Galaxies in the background

 

[Polar Maritime]

COMET ISON APPROACHES MARS: In two months, Comet ISON will make a spectacular flyby of the sun. First, though, it has to fly by Mars. The sungrazing comet is approaching the Red Planet for a 0.07 AU close encounter on October 1st. Mars satellites and rovers will have a close-up view. A video from NASAdetails the encounter.

Amateur astronomers on Earth can watch, too. This photo from Malcolm Park of Oak Heights, Ontario, shows the location of the comet relative to Mars just before sunrise on Sept. 29th:

At closest approach on October 1st, Mars and Comet ISON will be approximately 2^o apart. While Mars is visible to the unaided eye (it shines almost as brightly as a first-magnitude star), ISON is not. The comet is still far from the sun and, as it crosses the orbit of Mars, it has not yet warmed enough to reach naked-eye visibility. Reports of the comet's brightness vary from 12th to 14th magnitude, which means a mid-sized backyard telescope is required to see it. http://www.spaceweather.com/

[Gray-Wolf]

The fly by should make for an interesting couple of weeks of data for us all and maybe give us a better idea of what we might expect in a couple of months?

[Boro Snow]

Thought this might be useful for some people

 

[I Cumbria Marra I]

will you be able to see it with your naked eye? and will it be brighter than comet Panstarrs?

[Yarmy]

will you be able to see it with your naked eye? and will it be brighter than comet Panstarrs?

 

No-one knows yet, although it's fair to say expectations have been reduced somewhat. I did manage to see Panstarrs (just!) with binoculars. I'd like to think it will be easier than that was.

[Boro Snow]

No-one knows yet, although it's fair to say expectations have been reduced somewhat. I did manage to see Panstarrs (just!) with binoculars. I'd like to think it will be easier than that was.

expectations were way to high imo anyway, as bright as a full moon is what some people where saying the likely hood of it being as bright as venus is more realistic, it will be a lot brighter than pannstarrs but i suppose only time will tell i was reading an article yesterday about ison from nasa and the scienctists fully expect it to get through perihelion due to the size of it and the make up of it, roll on dec and jan 

Edited October 2, 2013 by Lee aka Boro Snow

[Polar Maritime]

COMET ISON IN COLOR: Comet ISON is brightening as it approaches the sun.Estimates by experienced observers put the comet between 10th and 11th magnitude. That's too dim to see with the unaided eye, but bright enough for color photography through mid-sized backyard telescopes. Michael Jäger of Weißenkirchen, Austria, observed the comet on Oct. 5th and found that it was green:

To image the comet, Jäger combined multiple exposures through red, green, blue, ultraviolet and infrared filters. Details may be found here.

ISON's green color comes from the gases surrounding its icy nucleus. Jets spewing from the comet's core probably contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C₂). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space. http://www.spaceweather.com/

[Polarlow]

I think it has to be 6th magnitude or below to be visible with the naked eye.

[Crepuscular Ray]

I think it has to be 6th magnitude or below to be visible with the naked eye.

If you have good dark skies and low atmospheric moisture/pollution levels - here in London, it's very rare to be able to see anything below about mag 2.5 even on an extremely clear night.

 

There's also an issue with the way the magnitude of comets is calculated, as for some reason the total brightness from the diffuse area of the coma is lumped together as if it was a point source like a star.

 

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

 

Whoever said that scientists were logical...

[Bobby]

http://isoncampaign.org/karl/ison-is-just-fine

 

Comet Ison is brightening and intact, latest photo from Arizona's Mount Lemmon Observatory

 

 

Best estimates still put the maximum magnitute at -3 to -5, so very clearly visible to the naked eye.

Edited October 11, 2013 by Bobby

[Weather-history]

Best estimates still put the maximum magnitute at -3 to -5, so very clearly visible to the naked eye.

Isn't that though when it is very close to the sun though? So you won't see it unless you can some how cut out the glare of the sun which itself is about magnitude -26.We have to be clear about this. The key is what is the magnitude of the object after it moves way from the sun and into the twilight. That's the important factor, that when we can see it with less difficulty and going off the comet earlier this year, I didn't even seen it in the crystal clear evening of the polar air during that March. Edited October 12, 2013 by Weather-history

[Gray-Wolf]

I'm sure we have 'sunset' opportunities prior to it's encounter with the sun? The fact that it is so close should mean it's losing mass into it's corona/tail at this time?

[Polar Maritime]

GREEN COMET, RED PLANET: Comet ISON, which will fly through the atmosphere of the sun on Nov. 28th, is now flying past the planet Mars. The green comet and the Red Planet are just 1^o apart in the eastern sky before dawn. Parks Squyres photographed the odd couple from his private observatory in SaddleBrooke, Arizona, on Oct. 16th:

Mars is almost as bright as a 1st-magnitude star, easy to find in the constellation Leo near the blue star Regulus. The comet, on the other hand, is invisible to the unaided eye. Mid-sized backyard telescopes are required to see it. http://www.spaceweather.com/

[Weather-history]

It's this month that the comet reaches perihelion.

http://www.cometison2013.co.uk/perihelion-and-distance/

http://www.space.com/23417-comet-ison-performance-approaching-sun.html

[ARTDEMOLE]

May only be -3  or -3 Mag. . So disappointing..  

[ARTDEMOLE]

Good place for info

 

www.waitingforison.wordpress.com

[Flipflop]

Question! why is ISON EVM dropping in value, currently at 7.90 or am i reading the values wrong and its a good thing!

[Mokidugway]

A bit dissapointing yes , but having recently purchased an officina stellare telescope i just want some clear frosty nights !! ?

[Flipflop]

Is it! that more ruble is on the surface than ice at the moment ! 

[Boro Snow]

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/observers-perplexed-comet-isons-erratic-performance-8C11512045

 

The experts are baffled why the comet is behaving more like an asteroid than a comet 

[Polar Maritime]

RACING TOWARD THE SUN: Comet ISON is now inside the orbit of Earth and racing toward the sun. Last night, astronomer Alberto Quijano Vodniza of Pasto, Colombia, recorded the comet moving through space at 103,000 mph (46 km/s). Click to set the scene in motion:

"The movie shows the comet's motion over 27 minutes," says Vodniza. Watch it again. "We also caught a satellite."

On Nov. 28th, Comet ISON will fly through the sun's atmosphere little more than a million kilometers above the sun's fiery surface. This raises a question: Is Comet ISON racing toward its doom? Astronomer Matthew Knight of the Lowell Observatory thinks the comet might withstand the heat:

"At its closest point to the Sun, the equilibrium temperature approaches 5000 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to cause much of the dust and rock on ISON’s surface to vaporize," says Knight. "While it may seem incredible that anything can survive this inferno, the rate at which ISON will likely lose mass is relatively small compared to how big it likely is. Assuming that the comet's nucleus is bigger than about 200 meters in radius (current estimates suggest it is 500-2000 m in radius), it will likely survive. It helps that the comet is moving very fast, about 400 km/s at perihelion, so it will not remain long at such extreme temperatures."

If Comet ISON does survive its encounter with the sun, it could put on a good show for backyard astronomers in the northern hemisphere in December. The next few weeks will tell the tale.http://www.spaceweather.com/

[Polar Maritime]

Comet ISON Heats Up, Grows New Tail

 

Two faint tail streamers are visible between Comet ISON’s green coma and bright star near center. in this photo taken on Nov. 6. They’re possibly the beginning of an ion tail. Click to enlarge. Credit: Damian Peach

I’m starting to get the chills about Comet ISON. I can’t help it. With practically every telescope turned the comet’s way fewer than three short weeks before perihelion, every week brings new images and developments. The latest pictures show a brand new tail feature emerging from the comet’s bulbous coma. For months, amateur and professional astronomers alike have watched ISON’s slowly growing dust tail that now stretches nearly half a degree or a full moon’s diameter. In the past two days, photos taken by amateur astronomers reveal what appears to be a nascent ion or gas tail. Damian Peach’s Nov. 6 image clearly shows two spindly streamers.

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/106205/comet-ison-heats-up-grows-new-tail/#ixzz2jzguMz84

Edited November 7, 2013 by Polar Maritime