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http://www.weather.com/news/approaching-comet-moon-20121231A comet blazing toward Earth could outshine the full moon when it passes by at the end of next year -- if it survives its close encounter with the sun.
The recently discovered object, known as comet ISON, is due to fly within 1.2 million miles from the center of the sun on Nov. 28, 2013 said astronomer Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
As the comet approaches, heat from the sun will vaporize ices in its body, creating what could be a spectacular tail that is visible in Earth's night sky without telescopes or even binoculars from about October 2013 through January 2014.
If the comet survives, that is.
Celestial visitors like Comet ISON hail from the Oort Cloud, a cluster of frozen rocks and ices that circle the sun about 50,000 times farther away than Earth's orbit. Every so often, one will be gravitationally bumped out from the cloud and begin a long solo orbit around the sun.
On Sept. 21, two amateur astronomers from Russia spotted what appeared to be a comet in images taken by a 16-inch telescope that is part of the worldwide International Scientific Optical Network, or ISON, from which the object draws its name.
"The object was slow and had a unique movement. But we could not be certain that it was a comet because the scale of our images are quite small and the object was very compact," astronomer Artyom Novichonok, one of the discoverers, wrote in a comets email list hosted by Yahoo.
Novichonok and co-discoverer Vitali Nevski followed up the next night with a bigger telescope at the Maidanak Observatory in Uzbekistan. Other astronomers did likewise, confirming the object, located beyond Jupiter's orbit in the constellation Cancer, was indeed a comet.
"It's really rare, exciting," Novichonok wrote.
Comet ISON's path is very similar to a comet that passed by Earth in 1680, one which was so bright its tail reportedly could be seen in daylight.
The projected orbit of comet ISON is so similar to the 1680 comet that some scientists are wondering if they are fragments from a common parent body.
"Comet ISON…could be the brightest comet seen in many generations -- brighter even than the full moon," wrote British astronomer David Whitehouse in The Independent
an iridium flare will brighten and then fadeRooki3 wrote:that wasnt fireworks, was very high, brightness nvr faded, constant velocity across the sky
Country_Bookie wrote:Halley’s Comet was last here in 1985, not 1997.
maj. tom wrote:Remember to bump this thread and not make a new one when this gets big in the news.
Comet ISON
Wikipedia article will be updated as more information is assessed and confirmed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2012_S1
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/28/us-space-comet-idUSBRE8BR0KQ20121228
The last comet to dazzle Earth's night-time skies was Comet Hale-Bopp, which visited in 1997. Comet 17P/Holmes made a brief appearance in 2007.
If the comet survives, that is.
Comet ISON could break apart as it nears the sun, or it could fail to produce a tail of ice particles visible from Earth.
Comet C/2011 L4 (PANSTARRS) may also be visible to the naked eye when it is near perihelion in March 2013.
sliderz1 wrote:good.....i'll be looking
maj. tom wrote:Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4)
In the Northern Hemisphere:
"To see it, you will need an unobstructed, cloudless view of the western horizon. It is best to pick a dark spot, away from street lights," University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy wrote in a press release.
The comet should be visible in the direction of the setting sun just after the sun slips below the horizon. Twilight and moonlight may make viewing the comet difficult. The best opportunity to see it may be on March 13 when the comet appears just beneath a thin crescent moon, astronomers said.
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