Comet C/2012 S1 ISON: The Comet of the Century?

[peter grimes]

ISON is not guaranteed to be a "comet of the century" based on current status. That could change very quickly, of course.

And it might confirm Panspermia, too [j/k]

http://earthsky.org/space/big-sun-diving-comet-ison-might-be-spectacular-in-2013

 

[SouthernKing]

Should luck hold, I think I'll get a clear view from the bus stop I wait at for 5-10 minutes every weekday morning. Can't wait!

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

ISON is now visible to the unaided eye, in darker places. It suddenly brightened this week. You can find it in the pre-dawn sky near Mercury, appearing as a small teal streak.

Its perihelion is in two weeks, on Thanksgiving Day. If it survives, it will become brightly visible in the immediately post-sunset Western sky. Recent estimates place its brightness at that time around that of Venus. Venus is visible in the southern sky immediately after sunset (it's the first thing you can see), to get an idea of how bright this comet will be.





http://www.armaghplanet.com/blog/where-is-comet-ison-in-the-sky.html

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

The sad news is out: ISON broke up at perihelion.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/11/28/nasa_hangout_live_video_chat.html

[UPDATE 2 (Nov. 28 at 18:45 UTC): An image of ISON from 17:48 (20 minutes after the one above) shows the comet even more stretched out. If the solid nucleus were intact it wouldn't be so smeared out, and more telling, the comet fades and narrows to the upper left, in the direction of its motion. That's exactly what you'd expect if the comet has broken up.]

[UPDATE 3 (Nov. 28 at 20:30 UTC): The latest SOHO image I can grab is from 19:48 UTC (2:48 EST) and it seems to show a little bit of ISON coming around the Sun. However, it once again appears to not be condensed, meaning it looks like debris smeared out along the comet's orbit. It looks to me that ISON, as a solid body, is no more. The next question is, when did the breakup actually occur? Was it it an all-at-once event, or did it break up over time? It may have happened before it even entered the SOHO field of view, and the pieces didn't disperse until after it got near the Sun this morning.]

Here is the last image of it still remotely intact, nearing the solar corona:



And here is the after shot. Notice that no definite head exists. It has been completely torn apart by the intense heat and gravity, and smeared out along the tail.

 

[tokala]

Reports of its demise appear to be greatly exaggerated

 

[classical_hero]

Elvis ISON has not left the solar system.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

Reports of its demise appear to be greatly exaggerated

I read that this morning. Hope may remain!

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yup, they are calling it the 'zombie comet'.

Here's hoping for a good show ISON! Live long and prosper.

 

[peter grimes]

Now saying it's fading rapidly again. Some guy on the internet said is was already back down to magnitude +5 and fading rapidly.

There was a great explanation on Reddit by a guy who uses LASCO describing what he sees in the images, and why he thinks the nucleus is shattered and spread out:

http://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/1rpnxz/comet_ison_may_have_survived_update_from_nasa/cdptbmr

 

[Serutan]

I was at a talk at the University of Arizona last night, and the SOHO movie was as of
yesterday at 1500 MST. The fragment that made it around the Sun was definitely
dissipating like it was never really intact.