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

[Gray-Wolf]

Now's the time to be using the solar observatory equipment to see it coast? StereoA has it a.t.m. and the 'movies' you can run show how the solar wind 'wiggles' the tail around.......something you don't pick up on when you look at photo's.

 

By the 28th the sat.s looking at the sun will show us it's 'sundive' , and hopeful it's escape intact from it's close encounter, from there it's the more 'civilised' evening viewing and hopefully it's scrape with the sun will have unfurled a huge tail for us all to marvel at?

Edited November 24, 2013 by Gray-Wolf

[Bobby]

Yep, I've been scanning the sky just before dawn and haven't seen a thing yet. Doesn't it turn towards the sun at the end of the month if it hasn't fragmented by then?

 

Here are some screenshots from the program 'Stellarium' I took, 5 day periods from 5th December to Christmas day so you can have an idea of where to see it next month. After the 21st it should be visible all night long to us in the N. Hemisphere. Note the magnitute, time and compass direction. The magnitude is just a guess of course as the comet could disintegrate or be brighter than predicted. Should also be visible in the early morning too but the evening/night is more convenient for people.

 

First sighting in the evening should be around the 5th December just after sunset to the W. If we're lucky we should see a long tail shooting up into the sky away from the Sun. On Christmas morning it should be high in the sky through the night to the NE.

 

 

 

 

 

Can download here http://stellarium.org/, I use it on Linux but can use it on Windows too it seems although haven't tried it on that

[Flipflop]

Its going to keep all forms of observations of this unique event on their toes and hopefully shed some light to some unanswered questions as to that has questioned how we got here but for me i hope its going to be a spectacular sight in our cosmic sky on its one time passage via Earth. Its so vast out there its hard to to get to grips with it all.

 

186.000mph and accelerating........ whoosh incredible speeds  

[Weather-history]

Now 176,383mph about 18 hours later

193,700mph now at time of posting.I wonder what it will reach at perihelion?

[Coast]

On Christmas morning it should be high in the sky through the night to the NE.

 

Will there be room at the Inn???

 

[Jax]

Here are some screenshots from the program 'Stellarium' I took, 5 day periods from 5th December to Christmas day so you can have an idea of where to see it next month. After the 21st it should be visible all night long to us in the N. Hemisphere. Note the magnitute, time and compass direction. The magnitude is just a guess of course as the comet could disintegrate or be brighter than predicted. Should also be visible in the early morning too but the evening/night is more convenient for people.

 

First sighting in the evening should be around the 5th December just after sunset to the W. If we're lucky we should see a long tail shooting up into the sky away from the Sun. On Christmas morning it should be high in the sky through the night to the NE.

 

stellarium-000.jpg  stellarium-001.jpg

 

stellarium-002.jpg  stellarium-003.jpg stellarium-005.jpg

 

Can download here http://stellarium.org/, I use it on Linux but can use it on Windows too it seems although haven't tried it on that

Never heard of this program until now ( and a breeze to install using ubuntu update onto my Lucid setup ), fantastic program and fully expect me to be using it often.

[DAVID SNOW]

193,700mph now at time of posting.

I wonder what it will reach at perihelion?

 

845,000mph on the 28thnov.

 

www.cometison2013.co.uk

[Jax]

Here are some screenshots from the program 'Stellarium' I took, 5 day periods from 5th December to Christmas day so you can have an idea of where to see it next month. After the 21st it should be visible all night long to us in the N. Hemisphere. Note the magnitute, time and compass direction. The magnitude is just a guess of course as the comet could disintegrate or be brighter than predicted. Should also be visible in the early morning too but the evening/night is more convenient for people.

 

First sighting in the evening should be around the 5th December just after sunset to the W. If we're lucky we should see a long tail shooting up into the sky away from the Sun. On Christmas morning it should be high in the sky through the night to the NE.

 

stellarium-000.jpg  stellarium-001.jpg

 

stellarium-002.jpg  stellarium-003.jpg stellarium-005.jpg

 

Can download here http://stellarium.org/, I use it on Linux but can use it on Windows too it seems although haven't tried it on that

Quick question (and I am most likely being a plum and missing the bleeding obvious) but how did you add ison to it?

[Highland Snow]

Will there be room at the Inn???

 

Yes Coast it would be a suitable reminder of the Star of Bethlehem on the Messiah's official birthday!

[Bobby]

Quick question (and I am most likely being a plum and missing the bleeding obvious) but how did you add ison to it?

 

Type F3 for object search and search for '"ison" then press enter.

 

Here's a cool photo from Teide volcano in Tenerife, would be nice if it looks like this next month

 

[Jax]

Type F3 for object search and search for '"ison" then press enter.

 

Here's a cool photo from Teide volcano in Tenerife, would be nice if it looks like this next month

 

tried the search and got nothing, wondering if it needs the latest star packs then?

[Bobby]

tried the search and got nothing, wondering if it needs the latest star packs then?

 

I installed it and it was there straight away. Maybe it's not the latest version of the program, I have 0.12.4.

 

Can download 0.12.4 for Ubuntu here if using an old version http://stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Download#Stellarium_Releases_PPA

[Jax]

I installed it and it was there straight away. Maybe it's not the latest version of the program, I have 0.12.4.

 

Can download 0.12.4 for Ubuntu here if using an old version http://stellarium.org/wiki/index.php/Download#Stellarium_Releases_PPA

That may be it then, I got 10.4 for my older lucid OS

[Coast]

I've been using Google Sky to try and get a bearing (yes I know, complete amateur!) what are the nearest objects (other than the Sun) to it at say 6.30 am, or later if we are lucky 6.30pm and what dates are we really going to get the best of it here in the South East?

[Bobby]

I've been using Google Sky to try and get a bearing (yes I know, complete amateur!) what are the nearest objects (other than the Sun) to it at say 6.30 am, or later if we are lucky 6.30pm and what dates are we really going to get the best of it here in the South East?

 

First chance to get a good look would be around 6:45am on 3rd December, low on the horizon in E/SE (111 degrees) to the E of Mercury and Saturn. Should look like this (with my added optimistic aritistic impression of how it may look lol)

 

 

Should be similar for the next few days but getting higher in the sky and earlier before sunset each morning.

 

Should start getting a good view in the evening after around the 10th in the West, this on the 13th.

 

Edited November 25, 2013 by Bobby

[Flipflop]

Has it disintegrated!

 

"Hi All,

Comet ISON has been closely monitored at the IRAM millimeter telescope in
Spain by Israel Hermelo (IRAM Granada) and myself (Caltech/NRAO) for the
last 6 days. We observe consistent, rapid fading of the molecular emission
lines between Nov. 21 and Nov. 25 by at least a factor of 20 (likely
more). This may indicate that the nucleus is now at best marginally active
or that... it no longer exists.

Regards,
Michal"

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/comets-ml/conversations/topics/22461

[Mesosphere]

Has it disintegrated!

 

"Hi All,

Comet ISON has been closely monitored at the IRAM millimeter telescope in

Spain by Israel Hermelo (IRAM Granada) and myself (Caltech/NRAO) for the

last 6 days. We observe consistent, rapid fading of the molecular emission

lines between Nov. 21 and Nov. 25 by at least a factor of 20 (likely

more). This may indicate that the nucleus is now at best marginally active

or that... it no longer exists.

Regards,

Michal"

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/comets-ml/conversations/topics/22461

 

Many experienced observers seem to be in agreement that it may have. Others though are skeptical. This will the biggest anticlimax of recent times if it's just fizzled out before perihelion 

[lorenzo]

Fizzled or not fizzled - that is the question.

 

This image from a few hours ago..

 

 

[lorenzo]

Good link plotting the path of the comet as ssen by STEREO  and LASCOs

http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/comet_ison/

[Steve C]

I never have been and won't get excited until it shows signs of having survived perihelion.

Its odds look the wrong side of even to me.

Having said that, I'd be the among the first to get excited, if there's no disintegration.

[Boro Snow]

A report has just come in from Michael Drahus a postdoctoral astronomer at Caltech, saying that far-infrared observations of the comet show a sudden drop in light emitted by certain kinds of molecules (specifically HCN embedded in ice), while others are reporting that, at roughly the same time, the comet has apparently blasted out a lot of dust. This is not yet confirmed, but a possible explanation is that the comet disrupted.

That’s not the only possible explanation! It's been suggested (message #12) that ice is distributed approximately evenly across the surface of the comet, and is finally starting to be depleted. The comet may yet still be intact, and this observation was so recent (from earlier today) that we don’t yet know what’s going on. The comet is only a few degrees from the Sun right now, so observations are very difficult; we may have to wait for spacecraft data to see what’s what.

 

hmmmmm it could be a massive disappointment 

I watched that program last night on nat geo and a few of the scientists on there dont expect it to survive Perihelion 

[Gray-Wolf]

The more I read/hear about it has me increasingly concerned to! The Horizon prog has one prof explaining it was on the 'edge' ( size wise) of being large enough to survive it's solar encounter but that means it is no way definate that it will survive. Should it go out in a blaze of glory I hope the solar observatories get a good view!

Edited November 25, 2013 by Gray-Wolf

[Polar Maritime]

A handy link here.... http://www.solarsystemscope.com/ison/

[Pixel]

A handy link here.... http://www.solarsystemscope.com/ison/

the best link I've seen - excellent - thank you (-:

[Flipflop]

Looks intact to me! or am i seeing something else?

 

Edited November 26, 2013 by Raptor Raw