Download the Special Prof. Comet Report for C 2012 S1 (ISON)

Mr. Justin J McCollum (BS, MS Physics) Lab Physics Coordinator

Dept. of Physics Lamar University

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Table of Contents

ISON network………………..….………………….…...3 – 6

C/2012 S1 Discoverers………….…...……….…...…7 – 10

CoLiTech System…………………….……….….………...11

Discovery & Prediscovery……………….…….………...12

Early Orbital Analysis…………………….……….…….…13

Speculations of Comet ISON…………..…………14 - 15

Oort or Oort – Opik Cloud………….……........16 – 17

Origin of Comet ISON……….………………….……….18

Sungrazer Comets…………………………………….19 - 20

Evolution of Comet ISON………………………………21

Facts about Comet ISON…………………....…..22 – 23

ISON a Pristine Comet?...............................24 – 25

Photometry & Current Brightness……………..26 – 27

Nature and State of the Coma…………………..28 – 30

Central Nucleus of Comet ISON………………31 – 32

Nucleus to the Tail……………………………….…..……33

Nature & State of the Tail…………………………34 – 35

Future & Expectations………………………….....36 – 39

Getting to know more about Comets!...........40 – 46

After Perihelion Passage!..............................47 – 49

Catching the Comet in December!…………….50 – 53

ISON in the Daytime…….…………………………….…54

NASA Involvement!.............................................55

C/2012 S1 Orbital Structure………………..…………..56

Ephemeris Terminology………………………………...57

Data Spreadsheet Introduction………………………..58

Data Table Spreadsheets…………………………..59 - 60

Comet ISON Updates………………………………61 - 62

Knowing where & how to find ISON……...…63 – 64

Current ISON Observing Campaign………….65 – 66

Comet ISON photo contest…………………………….67

End Page……………………………………………………...68

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Imperial Academy of Sciences St. Petersburg, Russia

Universitetskaya Embankment

Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow, Russia

ISON – International Scientific Optical Network This is lead by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics

Keldysh Institute is apart of the Russian Academy of Sciences

(Specializes in computational mathematics)

ISON has evolved into an international project dedicated in the organization, management, detection, monitoring, and tracking of

objects in space (minor planets to human – made objects).

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ISON is a collaboration of 10 ten countries lead by the Center for Space Debris Information Collection, Processing, and Analysis

under the direction of the Keldysh institute.

At it’s peak a total of 30 telescopes at 20 observatories located in 10 countries (most of the them lie within the former Soviet Union as shown above with the top 9 observatories in ISON).

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N Observatory Name Telescope CCD FOV, magnitude

1

Nauchnij, CrAO Crimea, Ukraine

2.6 m ZTSh* 1k х 1k, 24 8.4' х 8.4', 21

Zeiss-600* 1k х 1k, 24 18' x 18', 17.5

64-cm AT-64** 4k х 4k, 9 2.3° х 2.3°, 18

22-cm SR-220** 1k x 1k, 24 2.8° х 2.8°, 15

Simeiz, CrAO Crimea,Ukraine

Zeiss-1000* 2k x 2k, 13 30' x 30', 19

Zeiss-600** 1k х 1k, 24 45' x 45', 17.5

2 Evpatoria, NCSFTC

Crimea, Ukraine 70-cm AZT-8* 1k х 1k, 24 30' x 30', 18

3 Pulkovo, CAO RAS,

St-Petersburg, Russia

22-cm SR-220** 3k x 3k, 12 4.4° х 4.4°, 15

65-cm refractor * 3k х 3k, 12 12 х 12, 16.5

4 Mayaki, Odessa,

OAO, Ukraine 60-cm RC-600** 1k х 1k, 24

20' x 20', 17

1° х 1°,17

5 Chuguev, Kharkov,

KhAO, Ukraine 70-cm AZT-8* 1k x 1k, 15 30'x 30', 17.5

6 Zelenchuk, SAO RAS,

North Caucasus

Zeiss-1000* 4k x 2k, 15 15' x 7.5', 19.5

Zeiss-600** 1k х 1k, 24 45' x 45', 17,5

7 Abastumani, GENAO,

Caucasus, Georgia

Zeiss-400** 3к х 2к, 9 35' x 25', 14.5

70-cm Maxutov* 4k х 4k, 9 1.5° х 1.5° , 18

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Maidanak, IA UAS, Central Asia, Uzbekistan

Zeiss-600** 1k х 1k, 24 11.5' x 11.5', 17.5

1.5 AZT-22* 4k x 4k, 15 16' x 16', 20

Zeiss-600** 1k х 1k, 24 45' x 45', 17,5

Kitab, IA UAS, Central Asia, Uzbekistan

Zeiss-400** 1k х 1k, 24 30' x 30', 14.5

22-cm SR-220** 1k x 1k, 24 4.4° х 4.4°, 15

9 Mondy, ISTP RAS,

Siberia, Russia

Zeiss-600* 1k х 1k, 15 7.5' x 7.5, 17

1.6 m AZT-33IK* 1k х 1k, 24 5' x 5', 20

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Ussuriysk, UApO FEB RAS,

Far East, Russia

Zeiss-400** 3k х 2k, 9 35' x 25', 14.5

22-cm SR-220** 3k x 3k, 12 4.4° х 4.4°, 15

50-cm SR-500** 4k x 4k, 9 2° x 2°, 18

11 Tarija, NBAO,

Bolivia

23-cm astrograph** 1k х 1k, 24 35' x 35', 14.5

Zeiss-600* 1k х 1k, 24 45' x 45', 17.5

22-cm SR-220** 1k x 1k, 24 4.4° х 4.4°, 15

The Top telescopes and observatories within the former Soviet Union that collaborate with ISON

*These telescopes spend just a few nights per month searching for space debris! **These telescopes spend more than 50% of their time devoted to searching for orbital space debris!

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The importance of ISON to astronomical and space community is there survey is primarily dedicated to searching for space debris and solar system objects (known and unknown)

especially in GEO or GTO regions!

Dangers of space debris for astronauts, cosmonauts, satellites, etc. and minor planets to Earth and humanity is very real!

2. 22-cm telescopes SR-220 in Nauchnij with IMG1001E CCD camera (left), in Pulkovo with ST-8 CCD camera (central) and in Tiraspol with ST-2000XM CCD camera (right).

Distribution of magnitudes of unknown faint objects discovered.

Distribution of area to mass ratio for 63 unknown faint objects.

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Artyom Novichonok (left) and Vitaly Nevsky (right) with their 0.4 m reflector telescope.

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Basic Facts about Novichonok

Grew up in a small village in the North part of Karelia (NW Russia)

Born in the former Soviet Union

He loved Astronomy as a very young kid under the long, dark winter nights of northern Russia!

Became fascinated with the stars and mysteries of the Cosmos.

1st Book ‘Stars & Planets for Kids’ by Elfram Levitan

Moved Away from Astronomy when we is junior high when he learned about

the Universe was nearly infinite; the concept frightened him.

Returned to Astronomy in Senior High bought a PC with Red Shift 3 (planetarium software program).

Grandmother gave him his first telescope as a birthday gift.

In college he was fascinated with comets and worked studying on Comet

Astronomy at the Karelian Observatory which he created.

Major in Biology since there was no Astronomy program in Petrozadovsk (the major city in Karelia).

Starting working remote observatories in Asteroid discoveries and founded

the College Astronomy club.

Worked with many fellow colleagues and telescopes in discovering dozens of Asteroids and a few comets.

Discovery of Comet C/2012 S1 ISON was a rite of coming of Age for him!

Petrozadovsk

Co – Discoverer of Comet P/2011 R3 (Novichonok – Gerke).

First comet discovered in the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union since 1989! Discovered on 9 Sept 2011 at the Ka – Dar Observatory (Kuzminskoe, Southern Moscow Region,

Domodedovo district, Russia). Discovery based on six images using a 0.4m Jigit telescope.

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Petrozadovsk

Co – Discoverer of Comet P/2011 R3 (Novichonok – Gerke).

First comet discovered in the Russian Federation and the former Soviet Union since 1989! Discovered on 9 Sept 2011 at the Ka – Dar Observatory (Kuzminskoe, Southern Moscow Region,

Domodedovo district, Russia). Discovery based on six images using a 0.4m Jigit telescope.

http://www.ka-dar.ru/observ/

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Basic Facts about Vitaly Nevsky

Co Discoverer of Comet C/2012 S1 ISON

Russian Amateur Astronomer

Collaborates with discovery and co – discovery of many asteroids and comets especially within the ISON.

Works with remote and robotic telescopes for minor planet search programs.

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CoLiTec is a group of software designers and Astronomers in Russian and former USSR states who

developed a data collection/image acquisition program for minor planet discovery!

Neoastrosoft.com

Basic Facts about CoLiTec

Group was created 1 March 2009

Partners include ISON & Ukrainian Virtual Observatory

1st discovery (group project of Astrosoft) of an Asteroid in May 2010 at the Andrushivka Astronomical

Observatory (Kiev, Ukraine)

CoLiTec (CLT) is currently used by two CIS observatories:

• Ukrainain Virtual Observatory

• ISON – NM Russian remote Observatory (Mayhill, NM, USA)

939 Asteroids have been discovered using this software (3

July 2012) now it is estimated to be over 1000 discoveries to date!

Leonid Elenin used CoLiTec software to discover and get

credit for comet C/2010 X1 (Elenin)

Since the end of 2011: CoLiTec has been expanded to include other areas of discovery in Astronomy:

NEOs approaching Earth

New Stars New Supernovae

Define Meteor Tracking

Continues to be refined and improved for better uses in applied Astronomy for observatories and amateur

astronomers around the world.

Development is ongoing with Astrosoft as it works to further develop it’s capabilities for scientific article

publication and thesis development for researchers & students.

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Discovery ISON on 21 September 2012 @ 01:12 UTC

C/2012 S1 (ISON) was confirmed in later images during the early Autumn 2012!

22 Sept 2012 @ 12:00 UTC

(RAS Observatory – Mayhill, NM, USA) 25cm reflector & CCD camera 24 – 120 sec exposures stacked

24 Sept 2012

(Michael Jäger, Austria – 25cm reflector & FLI 8300 CCD camera) 4 – 7.5 min exposures stacked

ISON comet was officially designated by the International

Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center (IAU – MPC) as comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)

Prediscovery Images (No Public Access)

1st Prediscovery Mt Lemmon Survey (Catalina Sky Survey) in

Arizona, USA 3 MLS images using the 1.5m reflector & CCD

imager 2011 December 28 @ 08:24 – 09:07:12 UTC

Magnitude range: 19.5 – 19.9

2nd Prediscovery Pan-STARRS survey (Pan-STARRS 1 Telescope) in

Haleakala, Hawaii, USA 3 images using the 1.8m reflector & CCD imager

2012 January 28 @ 10:48 – 12:00 UTC Magnitude range: 19.8 – 20.6

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Close Approaches to Earth and Mars! © Dr. Michael S Kelley, Dept. of Astronomy,

U of Maryland. (Member of NASA CIOC Team)

Minor Planet Center NEO Confirmation

Page!

(NEOCP web page)

Early Orbital Analysis

Object was first designated on the NEOCP webpage as AS03D20! Initial calculations posted on the ‘comets – ml’ yahoo group by member Maik

Meyer (Germany) on 2012 Sept 23 @ 10:29 UT. 33 positions were recorded during observation period: 2012 Sept 21 – 23. Perihelion Date: 2013 Oct 19 @ 14:52:48 UTC and Solar Dist. (R = 0.03 AU) 33 positions expanded to 40 positions for further orbital analysis! Meyer posted on same date @ 15:59 UT. Perihelion Date: 2013 Nov 14 @ 23:16:48 UTC and Solar Dist. (R = 0.01 AU) 24 hours later!! Came final assessment of ISON’s orbit! Spanning observation data points to 50 positions. Perihelion Date: 2013 Nov 1 @ 00:43:12 UTC and Solar Dist. (R = 0.02 AU) 2012 Sept 24 @ 18:40 UTC the MPC with all prediscovery images and

available observations of ISON used some 54 positions. 2011 Dec 28 thru 23 Sept 2012 Perihelion Date: 2013 Nov 28 @ 20:52:48 UTC and Solar Dist. (R = 0.012 AU)

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Close Approaches to Earth and Mars! © Dr. Michael S Kelley, Dept. of Astronomy,

U of Maryland. (Member of NASA CIOC Team)

Speculations about Comet ISON

Within the 1st week of official discovery and a close perihelion predicted for the comet! Many predicted and continue to predict ‘Comet of the Century’!

Many observational reports from CCD imaging to field observations have produced a wide spread of possible magnitude values for the comet!

Comet at it’s brightest from Earth continues to be assessed as occurring around the period of perihelion passage!

Max. Stellar Range: low end (-6) to HIGH END (-17)!!!! MPC predicts a maximum brightness of -13.1 for 2013 Nov 28 @ 21:00 UTC just after

perihelion passage. Given that comets with a perihelion of less than 0.1 AU and looking at the alignment of the

comet with the Earth and Sun (all 3 combined) and with initial estimates of dust production from the tail ‘Comet C/2012 S1 could have the longest tail ever recorded!!’

Looking at the orbital elements of Comet ISON it is and still today believed that the orbit of comet ISON has similarity to the Great Comet of 1680!

Possibly comet ISON is a fragment of the Great Comet of 1680 and split apart from it either during that year or sometime before or after that period!

However all of the last three statements are still highly speculative since in spite of all we now know about comet ISON there is still a lot of questions remaining to be answered!

Great Comet of 1680 Lieve Verschuier (c. 1680)

Rotterdam Museum, Netherlands

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Speculations about Comet ISON

Great Comet of 1680 Lieve Verschuier (c. 1680) Rotterdam Museum, Netherlands

Ikeya – Seki (1965) © Roger Lynds, Kitt Peak Observatory, NOAO, AURA, NSF, 29 Oct 1965.

C/2006 P1 (McNaught)

Comet Kohoutek (C/1973 E1) © U of Arizona, Catalina Observatory,

11 Jan 1974.

Orbit Element

ISON C/1680 Ikeya – Seki C/2006 P1 C/1973 E1

Perihelion Dist. (AU)

0.0125 0.006 0.008 0.17 0.14

Orbital Inclination (Deg.)

62 61 142 78 14.3

Longitude of Ascending Node (Deg.)

296 277 347 267 258

Argument of Perihelion (Deg.)

345 351 69 156 37.8

Similarity of the two comets based on the data suggest it is more likely that both comets had a

common origin! Possibly a much larger comet that split apart and turn into these two objects.

Remember that C/1680 is currently 250 AU from the Sun and will not be back for another

9000 years while ISON has a one time journey about the Sun never to return!

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How does this relate and importance to ISON & Comets?

Jan Hendrik Oort Ph. D. (Prolific Dutch Astronomer)

Many contributions to Astronomy and a pioneer in the field of Radio Astronomy.

1st person to discover evidence of Dark matter originally proposed by Swiss Astronomer Fritz Zwicky in the 1930s

Discovered that the density of the mass near the Sun and around the Solar system was

twice that from what could be contributed from the neighboring stars and gas.

He made many great contributions to Astronomy raised money to build radio telescopes, experimented with the ideal radio interferometry, discovered the Galactic Halo, determined the mass of the Milky Way galaxy is equivalent to 100 billion suns,

that light from the Crab nebula is polarized by Synchrotron radiation.

First to suggest the concept that comets come from a common region within the solar system located beyond the outer edges of the solar wind called the Oort Cloud!

Historical radiomap of the Milky Way Galaxy

from Hydrogen emissions (21 cm wavelength) in 1958 lead by Oort, Ker, et. Al.

(The Galactic system as a Spiral Nebula)!

25m Dwingeloo Radio Telescope Westerveld, NE Netherlands

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How does this relate and importance to ISON & Comets?

What is the Oort Cloud?

It is a spherically shaped cloud of comets that lies well beyond the outer confines of the planets.

Estimated to be about 1 light year from the Sun.

Oort wondered why so many comets kept appearing and some of the them periodically.

He was the first to calculate that there must be a region beyond the outer edges of the planetary part of our solar system that is the source of these comets!

Estimations on the quantity of cometary bodies range from 100 billion to a maximum of 2 trillion!

Two regions: Inner Oort Cloud (Disk shaped) and Outer Cloud (Spherical)

Most comets are believed to have originated from this region!

Many objects have been discovered that are possibly Oort Cloud in origin: Sedna, Comet Ikeya – Seki, Great Comets, Halley’s Comet, Trans-Neptunian Objects, long periodic comets, & non – periodic comets including ISON!

Kuiper Belt is different from the Oort Cloud (periodicity of comets, orbital mechanics, etc.)

The source of all long periodic comets ranging from 20 000 – 100 000 AU from the Sun! Two Main Classes of Comets reside within the Oort Cloud: short (ecliptic) period comets & long

(isotropic) period comets!

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First of all it is related in any way to the Great Comet of 1680?

Probably Not!

One must remember about the Great Comet of 1680 also known as ‘Kirch’s Comet’ and officially designated as C/1680 V1

Basic Facts about Kirch’s Comet:

1. Discovered by German Astronomer (Gottfried Kirch) in 14 November 1680. 2. 1st comet to be discovered by telescope. 3. One of the brightest comets of the 17th century! 4. Observation and press reports reputed that ‘it was visible in the daytime’! 5. The comet’s tail was estimated to be 70° long (140 Full Moons from end to

end)! 6. It was observable to many astronomers in the northern hemisphere for

several months to where they could track it’s position for such a long period.

7. Bright enough in the sky to be seen during the ‘Noon – day’ Sun it was estimated it’s tail stretched for 30 000 000 - 90 000 000 miles!

8. It reached perigee at 0.42 AU on 30 Nov 1680 & perihelion of 0.0062 AU (580 000 mi) or (930 000 km) on 18 Dec 1680.

9. Peaked brightness occurred on 29 December as it begin it’s track outwards from the Sun!

10. Last observed on 19 March 1681! 11. Sir Issac Newton used the data obtained from observing this comet to test

out and verify Kepler’s laws of planetary motion! 12. Semi Major Axis of 444 AU (>11x Pluto – Sun distance)! 13. Eccentricity of 0.999986 (Very Extreme, Parabolic Orbit – Very common for

comets of this type!) 14. Orbital Period: possibly 10 000 yrs, not all agree on this value! 15. Common ancestor with comet ISON possibly, differences in the orbital

elements have been due to gravitational perturbations/interactions and long periods of time elapsing!

Parabolic path of C/1680 V1, Sir Issac Newton, Principia.

Similarities to Comet C/1680 V1 could be purely coincidental! Many Sungrazer comets can have similar properties to the

great comet, yet may have come from another parent object. There will never be enough evidence to be sure in confirming it.

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The Nature and Facts of Sungrazer Comets!

Comets that come very close towards the Sun’s photosphere travelling well within the inner corona.

Many have swung past the Sun within a few thousand kilometers from the Sun’s surface.

Many sungrazers survive their close journey within the inner corona, but many do not either by plunging into the Sun, evaporating within the inner corona, or disintegrate due to tremendous

gravitational, tidal forces (below the Roche limit)!

Sungrazers are broken down into four major groups: Kreutz, Kracht, Marsden, & Meyer

83% of all sungrazers lie within the Kreutz group while the other three groups comprise of the

remaining 17%

Each group is believe to be an origin icy body, a super – icy cometary body!

Marsden and Kracht (1 & 2) groups appear to be related to Comet 96P/Machholz (short periodic comets of the order of 5 years)

Meyers are for intermediate or long periodic comets!

Kreutz Sungrazer SOHO – 6 (SOHO spacecraft, 23 Dec 1996) Kreutz Sungrazer C/2011 W3 Lovejoy

(STEREO-A spacecraft, 14 Dec 2011)

96P/Machholz

Kreutz Sungrazers (most are small members that come extraordinarily close to the Sun at perihelion; most are only a few meters across)! How both C/2012 ISON and Great Comet of 1680 related to the 4 Sungrazer groups! NONE!

These two comets are literally the first two members discovered of an entirely new group of sungrazers!

C/2012 S1 did not break of from C/1680 V1, but both could possibly have come from a common ancestral body that differs

in composition and origin from the rest of the Sungrazers.

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Kreutz Sungrazer SOHO – 6 (SOHO spacecraft, 23 Dec 1996) Kreutz Sungrazer C/2011 W3 Lovejoy

(STEREO-A spacecraft, 14 Dec 2011)

96P/Machholz

Kreutz Sungrazers (most are small members that come extraordinarily close to the Sun at perihelion; most are only a few meters across)! How both C/2012 ISON and Great Comet of 1680 related to the 4 Sungrazer groups! NONE!

These two comets are literally the first two members discovered of an entirely new group of sungrazers!

C/2012 S1 did not break of from C/1680 V1, but both could possibly have come from a common ancestral body that differs

in composition and origin from the rest of the Sungrazers.

The Nature and Facts of Sungrazer Comets!

However, in spite of all the scientific evidence now available there are still doubts and nothing is conclusive.

It is known that comets especially sungrazers do break up into smaller fragments as observed from

many sun observing spacecraft in heliocentric orbit.

There are now some 2400+ sungrazer comets discovered by SOHO as of October 2013 and many show common fragmentation upon pre and post perihelion passage.

Sungrazers face the harshest conditions in the solar system and rarely survive.

They have to have very tenacious physical properties if the central nucleus is to survive in one form

or another.

Nothing is guarantee, but neither C/1680 V1 or C/2012 S1 are considered to be small comets.

There common origin ideal is jus t a theory! No guarantee of any sungrazer surviving in one piece or that the current ideal of a new sungrazer group will stand the test of time and scientific scrutiny!

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Image Manifest 1. 22 Sept 2012 (E Guido, G Sostero, & N. Howes)

2. 29 Sept 2012 (Jean – Francois Soulier) 3. 23 Oct 2012 (Pierre Ponsard)

4. 23 Nov 2012 (Rolando Ligustri) 5. 31 Dec 2012 (Rolando Ligustri)

6. 11 Feb 2013 (Alex Tudorica) 7. 10 Apr 2013 (HST/STScI/NASA)

8. 22 Apr 2013 (Francois Colas) 9. 15 Aug 2013 (Jean – Francois Soulier) 10. 24 Sept 2013 (Jean – Francois Soulier)

11. 5 Oct 2013 (Michael Jäger) 12. 8 Oct 2013 (Adam Block, MLS, U of Az.)

13. 8 Oct 2013 (HST/STScI/NASA) 14. 25 Oct 2013 (Manos Kardasis)

2 3

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5 6 8

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10

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12

13

7

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Orbital Elements: C/2012 S1 (ISON)

Epoch 2013 Nov. 4.0 TT = JDT 2456600.5

T 2013 Nov. 28.7744 TT MPC

q 0.012444 (2000.0) P Q

Z -0.000166 Peri. 345.5645 +0.3151355 +0.5123736

+/-0.000000 Node 295.6528 -0.7589358 -0.3693458

e 1.000002 Incl. 62.3996 -0.5698298 +0.7752786

From 4789 observations 2011 Sept. 30-2013 Oct. 21, mean residual 0".5.

T: Date of perihelion passage Z: Reciprocal semimajor axis (in 1/AU) q: Perihelion distance (in AU) e: Orbital eccentricity Peri: J2000 epoch of argument of perihelion (°) Node: J2000 epoch of longitude of the ascending node (°) Incl.: J2000 epoch of orbital inclination (°) P & Q: alternative forms of representing the angular elements Peri., Node, and Incl.

Spitzer Space Telescope (NASA/JPL-CalTech/JHUAPL/UCF), 13 June 2013.

IR @ 3.6 microns IR @ 4.5 microns

This is a primordial comet on it’s first journey around the Sun. Very pristine chemistry (mostly CO2 and Dust).

Red image (Mostly Dust) and Blue Image (inner coma of CO2) a case of carbon dioxide starting to fizzle of the surface of the nucleus prior to passing the orbit of Mars.

Ejection of CO2 from the Nucleus: ~1 million kg per day!

Ejection of Dust into the Coma & Tail: ~54.4 million kg per day!

Size estimation for the Central Nucleus: 4.8 km (3 mi) across about the size of a small mountain.

Total Mass based on material ejection and possible densities: 3200 Megatons – 3 200 Gigatons

Common composition for all comets: Dust & Frozen Volatiles (CO2, Water, Ammonia, Methane, O2, N2, C2, C3,

and Cyanogen (CN) compounds!

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Important Facts:

The Coma is estimated to be about 57 000 mi (91 713 km) across from HST data (April 2013)

The length of the Tail is estimated to be 186 400 mi (300 000 km) based on Spitzer data (June 2013)

Ejection of Dust at 54.4 million kg per day is equivalent to 266 statues of Liberty per day.

It is considered a Baby Comet (a photometric age with less than four years for an object).

The comet will be at it’s brightest at a solar elongation of only 1° (two full Moons) Surface Temp at Perihelion is estimated to be 2 700°C (enough to melt Iron) It is will be within the Roche limit with the Sun, therefore disintegration due to

intense gravitational tidal forces can not be excluded! Modern spectral and photospectral data now shows two spectral lines of C2 & C3

compounds (short chain, two carbon and three carbon compounds), OI (single ionized Oxygen), and a single line of CN (Cyanogen compound).

Initial reports indicate a reddening of the IR profile of the Coma showing possible sublimation of Water Vapor from within the central nucleus.

Hubble images from 10 April 2013 shows jets emitting volatiles from the nucleus surface that has likely shut themselves off or they are a release of material collected in the nucleus’s journey thru the Oort Cloud.

Jets flared brightly for only a short time, but have now shut themselves off after the limited volatile materials supplying the jets have become exhausted!

Left Image shows a color – enhanced image of ISON from 10 April 2013 Hubble images showing the red spots as possible chuck of H2O ice breaking away from the nucleus indicate a future reddening of the coma as these chucks evaporate along the tail.

© NASA/ESA/Planetary Science Institute/HST Comet ISON Imaging Science Team, 10 Apr 2013.

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Important Facts: The Green color of ISON!

How do most comets appear?

Well a greenish to whitish complexion is very common among all comets with a few exceptions!

In the case of ISON one must look at the spectral data for guidance and see the presence of CN and C2

molecules sublimating from the central Nucleus!

Note that the spectrum taken by Amateur Astronomer Chris Schur has two peaks of C2 at (5000 – 5100 Å) for Green and (4450 – 4600 Å) for Blue.

The top curve of the peak does range from Reddish – Orange (seen along the backend of the tail) to the Dark

Blue (some coma do portray a Cyan – like appearance)!

These substances are naturally clear, colorless chemicals and when they react with UV radiation and undergo a photofluorescence effect where the molecules are excited (energized by UV photons) and in tern radiate

colored light!

This is occurs around the coma with the gases sublimating from the central nucleus and riding out along the tail away from the nucleus as the come plunges it’s way thru the solar wind towards the Sun!

As the comet gets closer to the Sun more spectral lines of metals like Fe & Mg

could appear as some of the metallic rock becomes vaporized as ISON plunges thru the inner corona!

Note the spectral peaks in this latest processed spectrum of comet ISON acquired on 12 October 2013 showing two strong peaks of C2 molecules sublimating from direct contact with

the energetic particles propagating from the Sun and making up the Solar Wind!

© Astrophotographer Damian Peach, 27 October 2013.

© Astronomer Chris Schur, 12.5” telescope, 12 October 2013.

Natural color of the Coma

Coma (C2 & CN)

Tail (Dust grains, C & CN molecules, &

Hydrogen)

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Important Facts: Note that the spectra currently lacks a diversity of chemical species!

Examples would be strong H2O lines, Methane, Ammonia or Ammonium compounds, Sodium, Vaporized

metals, Oxygen and Nitrogen compounds, Hydrogen Cyanide, CO2, CO, Simple & Complex Organics.

This is strong scientific evidence that supports the theory that C/2012 S1 (ISON) is a pristine comet!

Meaning that this is it’s first journey around the SUN!

Chemical Spectra is a good indicator of Scientific support in

differentiating between pristine comets and non – pristine comets!

Halley’s Comet

Comet Garradd here as observed from the NASA/GSFC Swift spacecraft! UV data shows the presence of OH-,CN, CS, C2, & C3 (no substantial prescence of C3, CS, or any hydroxide or hydroxyl ions have been detected from any photospectra taken of ISON as of October 2013!)

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Important Facts: A

B C D

The photometry or light curve profiles reflect the current condition of the comet in terms of how bright it is expected or projected to be when it reaches it’s perihelion

passage!

The data with all light curves is only as good as the quality of the data and observation reports acquired from both amateur and professional Astronomers from all nations

regardless it is visual or photographic.

Photometry curves have had a wide variety in predictions in brightness and windows of opportunity to observe ISON or any comet from different grouping of observations.

Ranges in brightness vary from -13 to a more conservative estimations of -7 to +5 come

28 November 2013, but all the projected outcomes are still uncertain!

How bright will it truly be? Well we don’t know!

A. NASA Comet ISON Observing Campaign B. Toni Scarmato’s Observatory (Ph. D. Astrophysics) ISON Home Page C. Seiichi Yoshiida’s Home Page (focuses primarily on Minor Planets –

Comets) D. LIADA Comet Section (League of Ibero – American Astronomy)

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Important Facts: Light Curves are not only important for determining peak brightness and where it falls in

the days prior and post perihelion passage and perigee passage, but for finding any physical behavior that reveals a comet’s secrets!

The search for Outbursts and changes in visual magnitude are especially of great

importance (and more significant for pristine/primordial) comets.

Brightness of an outburst is dependent on two parameter products:

Afρ & Q factor

Afρ is a product of three parameters

1. A (albedo – reflectivity of the grains) 2. f (the filling factor)

• Optical density of the coma (absorption depending on dust particles) • Total cross section of grains that fill the FOV • Ratio of total area of FOV covered by dust grains/overall FOV area

3. rho (ρ) – radius of the coma (measured in km) 4. 1/rho – distance from the nucleus which is proportional to it’s fading. Q – factor: Rate of dust grain production (kg/sec) from Nucleus – Coma – Tail!

Possible candidate Outbursts: 1. 4 Oct 2012 – 17 Feb 2013 2. 29 Mar 2013 3. 8 Apr 2013 4. (30 June – 7 July) 2013

Note that the outbursts correlate with the concentration & production of dust and it’s effect on the brightness of the coma.

No guarantee that brightness projections will

hold!

1

2 3

4

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Important Facts:

The size of ISON’s coma has originally measured by Hubble at 57 000 mi based on HST observations on 10 April 2013.

The ISON has increased in size in correlation to magnitude:

Visual Magnitude from 13.5 – 12.0 correlates in coma diameter from (10 000 – 75 000) mi

However, the coma size is not constant as shown in the data (lower right) during the month

of October 2013 where the coma has varied in size!

ISON’s Inner Coma: Very little change in activity except a sharp decline during the month of October which correlates to it’s recent decline in brightness. ISON’s Outer Coma: An enlarged Coma with activity increasing depending on Dust production, outburst occurrence, and sublimation of volatiles by UV excitation!

©http://brucegary.net/ISON/, 28 October 2013.

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Important Facts: Spectral Energy Distribution

ISON is brightening, but at a frustratingly, slow pace with a few ‘road bumps’ along the way towards perihelion passage.

The comet is 2 – 3 magnitudes fainter than what was expected, but the coma has a

respectable profile and the comet is very much intact and brightening as excepted for any typical comet.

We did have a slight dimming of the comet in terms of it’s overall stellar magnitude

from (5 – 19) October by 0.5 magnitudes.

It is continuing to brightening again at a very, very slow pace for both the coma & tail for ISON until 24 October with another slight dimming.

If you look at the particular bands in the SED graphs show a brightening from 24 Sept – 22 Oct

which correlates with the greening of the coma on the (B, V, & g’ bands) which indicates an increase in C2 molecule production.

Source of CN, C2, CO2, H2O, and Dust grains occupy the inner coma and spread out into the

outer coma and propagate along the tails along the antisolar direction!

Dust Grains containing or coated in H2O ice or H2O

ice chucks (red ovals)!

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Here is another analysis of the photometry data obtained from observations and light measurements taken of comet ISON!

Note that the light curve shows a noticeable alternation of brightening and dimming periods as correlated with changes in dust production rates. Any change in patterns in brightness with comparison to dust production can result in backscatter effects of the

light from small dust particles.

This is a good, scientific reason to have reservations about future predictions on ISON’s

brightness!

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Important Facts:

All comets are non – existent without the central nucleus!

In the case of the central nucleus for C/2012 S1: about 5 km in diameter.

Early measurements taken by NASA/GSFC Swift spacecraft UVOT instrument took the first measurements of material shedding from the central nucleus.

51 000 kg/min of dust & 60 kg/min of H2O as of 30 Jan.

(2/3 of the mass of an unfueled space shuttle & 4x the amount of H2O released by a residential sprinkler system!)

Note the images below and the right side indicating the emission of jets releasing volatiles from either the interior of the

nucleus or from the surface.

Jet activity of ISON is not constant with the initial images taken from Hubble in April 2013 likely showing jets releasing the original mostly CO2 pristine material that coated the surface of the nucleus!

As we get closer to the Sun the gravitational and radiation pressure within the Solar wind will cause internal activity that

results in breaks of pressurized volatiles making their way to the surface.

The dust absorbance changes the visibility of the inner region of the coma and in many causes an artificial nucleus is positioned in the images where optical penetration and backscattering makes any direct observations of the true nucleus

impossible! (Note the regions of internal brightening, due to backscattering of light.)

Data acquired on a closer check up of comet ISON’s current condition acquired from the Remanzacco Observatory, Italy!

Remanzacco Observatory, 2 Oct 2013!

Remanzacco Observatory, 2 Oct 2013!

Further Data Processing of true structures Dr. Nalin Samarasinha, Planetary Science Insititute.

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Important Facts:

More data analysis from both the Remanzacco and Toni Scarmato Observatories.

The right image shows changes in the solitary jet – like structure towards the sunward or Sun – facing direction spanning upwards to 2.7 arcsec (4500 km in size).

The feature is uncertain maybe a jet, but now unlikely a nucleus feature a more

backscattering feature of the inner coma. (Remanzacco Observatory)

Notice the two color – enhanced images below taken from Toni Scarmato’s observatory and how they compare and contrast from the reprocessed HST image to the lower right!

Instead of seeing just separate jets at antipodal positions along the nucleus (10 April 2013) in correlation with the HST image taken on the same date, but the anomalous state as shown in

the later image (8 May 2013).

The partitioning of the bright spots may indicate a fracturing of the central nucleus or a chuck of the nucleus breaking off yet staying close to the central nucleus.

More observations and analysis will be required to verify this, but the comet appears to have

put itself in a bizarre state!

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Important Facts: These images to the upper right and lower right are preliminary images indicating the presence of jets in either both the sunward and anti-solar positions. Although more evidence and observations will be needed. If the optical structures are jets piercing thru the optical haze formed by the dust filling in the coma, then by knowing the motion of the jet sources can tell us about the rotation rate of the nucleus. The rotation rate can be used to determine the formation and density of the coma and the concentration, density, and composition of the tail. We can learn a lot about the mass of the central nucleus by the loss in material ejected , morphology of the coma, and the structure of the tail. Structural enhancement of the tail for an understanding of the spatial morphology of comet ISON is a bit tricky.

Comets can degrade into Asteroids or micrometeorite debris.

Comets are not eternal !!!

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Important Facts: Comet ISON inner coma shown in the upper right image with the central

brightness due to a lot of dust particles and now some ice crystals reflecting a lot of light emitted from the Sun!

The middle left image is a contrast enhanced profile of the inner coma

showing the propagation of material that is more electrostatically attracted to the energized particles and ions of the solar wind.

Note that for comet C/2012 S1 that tails beings it’s origin of the inner coma

and pierces thru the anti-solar side of the outer coma.

The lower right image shows greater detail in the variation and density of the material being blown away from the inner coma.

This is the inner tail along with the optical anomaly towards the sunward

direction with is either a jet from the central nucleus emitting material into the coma or an optical backscattering of dust particles.

Note that this is the inner tail propagating away from the inner coma!

This importance of the inner tail is the variation in structure and material

density being non – continuous and ejected in clumps rather than a continuous stream!

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© Bruce Gary/NASA/STScI, 17 October 2013.

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Intrinsic brightness – between Comet C/1965 S1 (Ikeya – Seki) & Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught)

Absolute magnitude (Earth distance of 1 AU) Ikeya – Seki (3.9)

ISON (6.0) McNaught (9.5)

(Peak Visual Mag. -7 to +5 with a more reasonable range of -3 to -5!)

25x brighter than McNaught

1/7th the brightness of Ikeya – Seki

Trying to gaze into the Crystal Ball!

Case 1: Epic Fail (Fizzles out or Disintegrates)

(Utterly Evaporates) (1.7 solar radii from the Sun’s photosphere)

(Within the Solar Roche limit!)

Case 2: Sizzle & Burn (Reaches peak brightness prior to perihelion)

(Disintegrates or Evaporates at or before perihelion) (C/2011 W3 Lovejoy or C/2010 X1 Elenin)

Case 3: History in the Making (Greater than Ikeya – Seki?)

(Comet of the Century?) (Peak Magnitude: -8 to -10)

(Not brighter than the Full Moon!)

It is still going strong, so unlikely another Kohoutek!

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© Uwe Pilz, German Astronomer.

The image shows projections of comet ISON’s around the time of perihelion passage!

A very curved tail wrapping around the Sun about the

comet’s hyperbolic path.

Extremely curved and concentrated: 30 November – 1 December 2013 Less curved and more dispersed: 2 – 4 December 2013

Straighten out and reduced: 5 – 6 December 2013 Smaller and very straight: 7 – 10 December 2013

True speed around perihelion passage: 1.35 million km/hr The comet’s tail by this simulation will have an angular

length visible from Earth: ≥ 40°

Naked Eye visibility not possible before 13 – 14 November while during morning daylight hours!

7 – 10 days later the comet will be visible at 2nd magnitude.

A somewhat faint head with a long tail is predicted for morning

December twilight skies.

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© The Paris Observatory LESIA (Laboratory for Space Studies & Astrophysics Instrumentation) Nicolas Biver, 2013.

A series of rough estimations on the possible appearances of ISON’s dust tail as seen from Earth!

Date Tail length Apparent

length PA tail (particles age)

01-Oct. 0.017 AU 0.20° 296° 20 days

06-Oct. 0.018 AU 0.26° 296° 20 days

11-Oct. 0.020 AU 0.34° 296° 20 days

16-Oct. 0.023 AU 0.45° 296° 20 days

21-Oct. 0.026 AU 0.61° 297° 20 days

26-Oct. 0.030 AU 0.84° 297° 20 days

31-Oct. 0.035 AU 1.2° 297° 20 days

5-Nov. 0.042 AU 1.8° 297° 20 days

10-Nov. 0.051 AU 2.6° 296° 20 days

15-Nov. 0.065 AU 4.0° 295° 20 days

20-Nov. 0.09 AU 5.9° 290° 20 days

25-Nov. 0.14 AU 8.9° 280° 20 days

01-Dec. 0.03 AU 1.7° 355° 1.5 days

03-Dec. 0.10 AU 6.5° 350° 3.5 days

05-Dec. 0.20 AU 15° 350° 5.5 days

07-Dec. 0.30 AU 24° 355° 7.5 days

09-Dec. 0.30 AU 27° 360° 9.3 days

10-Dec. 0.29 AU 28° 0° 10 days

15-Dec. 0.30 AU 32° 0° 14 days

20-Dec. 0.31 AU 35° 0° 18 days

25-Dec. 0.33 AU 34° 0° 22 days

30-Dec. 0.29 AU 25° 0° 26 days

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Life Time of a Comet’s Nucleus {especially C/2012 S1 (ISON)}

A Minimum size of 5 km

Assumption on Density at 0.5 gm/cm3 at 50% ice with 500% activity!!!

Large fraction of outgassing of icy grains lifted off the surface electrostatic & electrodynamic effects of the

solar wind.

How quickly will it exhaust it’s supply of volatiles:

≤ 800m only 10 days at 0.1 AU solar distance 1km and at less than 0.1 AU solar distance than the

nucleus can not survive!

1 km, less than half is composed of H2O & Volatiles and does not rotate too fast then survival post

perihelion passage is possible!

Therefore ISON’s survival is possible!

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Degree of Condensation (DC) All observations of comets are broken down into three factors: estimating

magnitudes for light curves to predict future brightness, coma observations, and observations that concern with a comet’s tail(s). For the

coma or a comet’s head there two characteristic features that are important for study: Degree of condensation (DC) and coma size measured in arcminutes. The classification system for determining the DC is based on

a positive integer system from 0 to 9 as shown below.

DC value Definition to numerical DC designation

0 Diffuse coma of uniform brightness

1 Diffuse coma with slight brightening towards center

2 Diffuse coma with definite brightening towards center

3 Centre of coma much brighter than edges, though still diffuse

4 Diffuse condensation at centre of coma

5 Condensation appears as a diffuse spot at centre of coma – described as moderately condensed

6 Condensation appears as a bright diffuse spot at centre of coma

7 Condensation appears like a star that cannot be focused – described as strongly condensed

8 Coma virtually invisible

9 Stellar or disk like in appearance

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Morphology (Structure of Comets) As a comet approaches or recedes from the Sun within the planetary domain of the solar system the solar pressure and energy from the Solar Wind & its radiation pressure react with the comet nucleus. This in turn will form a variety of structures to the comet that give it its’ distinctive structure thru the

processes of sublimation, evaporation, ionization, pressure outflow, etc.

Structural Component Definition of Component

Nucleus Comets are essentially ‘dirty snowballs’ or asteroids covered in and containing internal cavities (reservoirs) of frozen volatiles (ex.: H20, frozen Oxygen, Carbon compounds, etc.) and originate from outside the solar system from the Kuiper Belt (short to medium period comets) to the Oort Cloud (up to extremely long period comets). The details in composition and overall structure internal and external vary considerably and they range in size from 100m to 40 km across! As of June 2013 there are about 4300 known so far, but they may number in the trillions!

False Nucleus The central brightening of the coma showing the position of the nucleus, but only the extremely ‘high pressured’ jets are visible containing the escaping volatiles from such internal cavities breaking thru to the surface of the nucleus (the actual nucleus is not visible in most telescopes).

Coma The trace atmosphere of dust particles, icy crystals, evaporated or sublimated molecules, ions, etc.) that surround the nucleus before being pushed away by the radiation pressure and solar wind producing the comet’s tails. The re are two sub components (inner and outer comas) differing only by concentration of materials emanating from the nucleus. The most common compounds C2 & C3 (carbon compounds) along with (CN-) cyanogen compounds make the nucleus appear greenish or some combination of blue and green to the human eye.

Ion Tail (Type I)

The volatiles that can come from the nucleus are ionized by solar Ultraviolet radiation (UV photons) and the magnetic field of the Sun will drive the particles in a tail away from the Sun (Anti – Solar) direction at speeds up to 500 km/s. The most common ions (CO+) carbon monoxide appears blue to the human eye.

Dust Tail (Type II) Nanoscopic to tiny mesoscopic (up to millimeter sized) dust particles that pushed away from the Coma via pressure from the Solar radiation within the solar wind and can very diffuse structurally and only reradiate back long wavelength or low energy light (appearing white, yellowish, or soft – pink). The particles will spread in individual orbits around the Sun kept away from the Sun’s gravity due to its’ radiation pressure giving the tail its’ curved shape. Dust Tails can extend up to 100 million km (62.1 million mi) from the Nucleus and Coma!

Sodium Trail (Type III)

Visible only in very, large telescopes there tails are composed of neutral atoms of Sodium striking out from the coma and not the nucleus possibly from either collisions between dust particles, UV solar erosion of the dust particles, or some unknown mechanism all occurring within the coma. Sodium tails can reach up to 50 million km away from the Sun along a similar path to the ion tail!

Dust trail (Anti – Tail)

Larger dust particles that have enough mass to be more attracted to the Sun’s gravity and are less likely to be influenced by the Sun’s radiation pressure and are geometrically opposite to the Types I & II tails. They will form a dust disk along the orbital path of the comet that only visible from Earth as a spike heading towards the Sun, but only visible when the comet crosses the orbital plane of the Earth!

Cometary Bow Shock Once the solar wind interacts with a comet plunging thru the solar wind a bow shock forms around the outer coma much the same way the magnetic field of a planet forms a bow shock. The solar wind forms a Hydrogen envelope just outside the frontal boundary of the outer coma creating a plasma layer of hydrogen ions that release Lyman – alpha radiation as a byproduct!

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Morphology & Structure of Comets! As a comet approaches or recedes from the Sun within the planetary domain of the solar system the solar pressure and energy from the Solar Wind & its radiation pressure react with the comet

nucleus. This in turn will form a variety of structures to the comet that give it its’ distinctive structure thru the processes of sublimation, evaporation, ionization, pressure outflow, etc.

Ion Tail

Anti - Tail Inner Coma

Outer Coma

Ion Tail

Dust Tail

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Morphology & Structure of Comets!

Morphological interaction between the coma and the Solar Wind!

It is okay if you don’t entirely understand what is going on here; the only important fact are the particles within the solar wind and the comet plunging thru it will force a

massive buildup of particles between the bow shock and the cometopause (the boundary of the comet’s induced magnetic field) forming the outer boundary of influence

for the outer coma! This think bow shock that contains the Hydrogen plasma is also known as the cometosheath and works similar to that of planet’s magnetosheath

where the influence of the magnetic field is weaken and the behavior of the Sun’s magnetic field propagating (moving) thru the solar wind begins to dominate going from

the comet or planet outwards towards the solar wind! Figure 2.2 compared to Figure 2.1 shows similarities in the Earth’s magnetic field to the behavior of the Coma and

induced magnetic field of the Comet as a result of interaction with the charged particles and radiation of the solar wind!

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Oort or Öpik – Oort Cloud

Oort cloud is the source of all intermediate and long period comets that extend from 2 000 AU and up to about 1 light year from the Sun. The Inner Oort cloud would contain the intermediate period comets while the long period comets & great comets would originate from the outer Oort cloud. Estimations on the number of cometary bodies vary substantially from several hundred billion to upwards of 2 trillion icy minor planets! All of the largest icy bodies in the solar system would have originated from this region of the solar system (example: Plutinos, Trans – Neptunian Objects, Scattered Disk Objects, comet nuclei up to 60 km across in size. Tidal gravitation forces from neighboring stars and density variations within region to region within the milky way galaxy plane would force these objects to orbits closer to the Sun!

Kuiper Belt

Source of all short period comets that extends from the orbit of Neptune (30 AU) and out to about 50 AU from the Sun. It is just like the Asteroid Belt in structure, but 20x wider and upwards up 20x – 200x the mass. Many of the more massive bodies that came from the Oort cloud end up residing inside the Kuiper belt. These are huge icy bodies composed of the same or similar substances as the comets. About 100 000 KBOs up to 100 km across are hypothesized to exist with this region of the solar system.

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The Professor Comet’s Report

What are comet’s?

7

A) Comet Halley in Milky Way, February 1986 , B) Comet Halley, February 1986, C) Comet West, March 1976, D) Comet Kohoutek, June 1973, E) Comet Ikeya-Seki, November 1965, F) Comet West, computer enhanced, G) Comet LINEAR, July 2000, H) Comet Hale-Bopp, March 1997.

Comets are known as minor planets like asteroids or other small space debris.

Bodies composed of metals (rocks), dust, & volatiles (examples: CO2, H2O, CN

-, C2, C3, CS, COS, HO-, etc.)

Frozen bodies of Dirty Ice (Asteroids coated in and Saturated with Icy Volatiles)!

Clathrytes are minerals & denser ices containing less dense volatiles imbedded within the crystal structure of the materials.

Comets are composed of three primary elements: (central nucleus, coma, and tail(s))

The central nucleus can range anywhere in size from a few meters across and up to tens of kilometers across.

They have no moons or rings.

The coma can reach from a few thousands and up to over 2 million km across (example: 17P/Holmes)

The tails can extend past 900 000 km in length can could theoretically extend up to 1 AU!

The material from the dust tail is the primary, but not the only source of micrometeroids for meteor showers.

There origin lie beyond the planets of the solar system to the Kuiper Belt & Oort Cloud.

Short period comets (less than 200 years) from the Kuiper Belt & longer period comets (greater than 200 years) come from the Oort Cloud.

Rotational period of cometary nuclei can vary substantially from a few seconds to several days!

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How to Observe Comets! The eight main points to

observing comets:

1. Visual Magnitudes that are reported for comets

are in reference to their stellar magnitude.

2. Actual observable magnitudes for naked – eye observation is usually 2 – 3 mag fainter.

3. The most common colors observable depending on the intensity of the comet: Green, Greenish – Blues, or Bluish – Greens.

4. Not all comets have observable tails and you rarely get a change to see the false nucleus.

5. When and if the false nucleus is observable it is due to the jets emitting volatiles to resupply the coma.

6. Ion and Sodium tails are rarely seen if ever expect under exceptional sky conditions and depending on the comet!

7. Most comets are better appreciated for their detail when observing astrophotos of the object!

8. Most commons just look like fuzzy, out – of focus balls of very, faint light.

C/2002 C1 (Ikeya – Zhang) 14 April 2012

© H Mikuz, Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia.

C/2002 C1 (Ikeya – Zhang) 31 Mar 2012

© Per – Jonny Bremseth.

Astronomy Sketch of the Day (posted 19 June 2013)

46

Where to look for post – perihelion period!

The top image is created with Stellarium and shows the position of the comet in the morning skies about 45 minutes before sunrise!

The right image is from Sky & Tel with the comet and it’s location with

respect to Mercury & the Moon on December 1.

There will be a conjunction of Mercury, Moon, & Saturn SE about 1 hour before sunrise (only 1 Dec)!

Mercury will be at maximum western elongation on 18 November

2013 at 19.5° at visual magnitude -0.3!

Mercury & Saturn will be at their closest on 25 – 26 November 2013 (A Full Moon width).

Comet ISON will be not visible before midnight until before 30

December and cross into the western skies around the night of 5 – 6 Jan 2014!

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Where to look for post – perihelion period – Page 1!

The ISON Atlas – isonatlas.wordpress.com/december-2013/

Progression of Comet ISON – Winter Skies (looking towards the Eastern Horizon) before Sunrise!

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Where in the sky post – perihelion period!

53

Where in the sky post – perihelion period!

Both images courtesy of the Giffith Observatory!

Beware that the right image is calculated for Pacific Standard Time (added 2 hours to CST).

Solar Elongations for SE Texas on 28 Nov 2013

CST Time & Solar Elongation

10 AM @ 2.7 degrees 11 AM @ 2.5 degrees Noon @ 2.2 degrees

12:44 PM @ 2 degrees 4:15 PM @ 1 degree

5:55 PM until 7:03 PM @ 0.5 degrees 8:31 PM @ 1 degree

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A suite of available resources from NASA ranging from space telescopes, Mars orbiters to floating scientific balloon

platforms have been or will be used by NASA to study ISON during it’s one time journey around the SUN!

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)

Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)

Swift (Gamma Ray) MESSENGER

ISS Balloon Rapid Response for ISON (BRRISON)

FORTIS

Ground – Based Telescopes Amateur Astronomers

LRO MRO

Curiosity & Opportunity Mars Rovers

Deep Impact Mission Hubble Space Telescope (UVO)

Spitzer (IR) Chandra (X – ray)

Swift (All 4 images)

MRO HiRise (All 4 images)

Deep Impact Mission

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Courtesy of NASA/JPL Solar Systems Dynamics Website.

Note that the white line are the planets and the blue path is the comet! The light blue is when ISON is above the plane of the ecliptic and dark blue when it is below the planet of the ecliptic!

Important Dates September 21, 2012 Discovered by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok September 22, 2012 Verified by Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero and Nick Howes September 24, 2012 Discovery announced by the Minor Planet Center January 6, 2013 Crosses the Orbital region of Jupiter at 5.20 AU (mean distance) Passes the Frost – Line where volatiles warm to 150 K for sublimation. August 2013 Will become visible to small telescopes October 1, 2013 Will be at its closest point to Mars – 6,700,000 miles November 8, 2013 Crosses the plane of the Ecliptic and goes below it! Crosses the Celestial Equator into the Southern celestial skies near 12h RA (meridian) November 11, 2013 Crosses the Orbital region of Venus at 0.723 AU (mean distance) November 19 – 24, 2013 Crosses the Orbital region of Mercury (0.307 – 0.467 AU) November 24 – 25, 2013 Maximum southern elongation from the plane of the Ecliptic: ~2.833° November 27, 2013 Maximum southern elongation from the Celestial Equator @ 22°48’25” at 23:05 PM CST (+ 6 hr for UTC) November 28, 2013 Will reach perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) – 715 950 miles November 28, 2013 Crosses the plane of the Ecliptic and goes well above it! Late October 2013 – January 2014 Will be visible to the naked eye December 8, 2013 Crosses the Celestial Equator and heads back into the northern celestial skies @ 09:00 UTC December 26 - 27, 2013 Will be at its closest point to Earth – 39,854,219 miles January 6, 2014 Closet approach to Polaris @ 1.98° January 8, 2014 Crosses the sky meridian and enters the western celestial skies. January 9 - 12, 2014 Predicted below naked eye visibility (visual mag. 7 – 7.5) March 26 - 29 May, 2014 Predicted at 13th – 15th magnitude (edge of visibility for most telescopes)!

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Ephemeris Term Definition (plus additional comments)

Date Month and Year using the standard Gregorian calendar.

TT Terrestrial Time (Day of the Month) as a substitute for the astronomical Julian date.

RA (2000) Right Ascension based on the Epoch J2000 (longitudinal coordinate for the celestial sky) measured in hours, minutes, and seconds.

Dec (2000) Declination based on the Epoch J2000 (latitudinal coordinate for the night sky) measured in degrees, arcminutes, and arcseconds.

Delta The distance from Earth measured in AUs (1 AU = 1 Astronomical Unit = 92 955 807 mi = 149 597 871 km as the mean distance between the Earth and Sun).

R The solar distance measured in AUs (the distance between the comet or comet – like body and the Sun)!

Elongation {El. ( ˚ )}

Solar elongation which is the angle of separation between the observed object and the Sun as measured across the night sky as measured in degrees.

Phase (Ph.)

Phase angle between the Sun, the celestial object, and the observer on the surface of the Earth. Also known as the Sun – Object – Observer angle.

M1 M1: The visual magnitude of the celestial object as observed on the surface of the Earth at sea level. (Note M1 values predicted by the Minor Planet Center can differ from actual visual reports obtain in the field!)

Mpred The predicted absolute magnitude which is calculated from a series of initial observations upon the discovery or recapture of a periodic comet which can change if the comet gets brighter or fainter as the internal conditions of the comet’s nucleus changes during it’s close approach around the Sun!

M2 The nuclear magnitude of the Comet which is also the visual magnitude of the false nucleus. (Rarely shown on a Comet’s ephemeris data spreadsheet unless all values show a visual brightness value above 19th magnitude!)

“/min The progression or motion across the sky as measured in arcseconds per minute.

P.A. Position angle while undergoing motion in the celestial sky. (P.A. is the same method applied to binary stars with starts at N goes counterclockwise in an easterly direction!)

Moon Phase A Numerical value for designating the phases of the Moon on a scale of (0.00 – 1.00): A New Moon = 0.00, Waxing or Waning Crescent = (0.01 - 0.49), Half Moon (1st or Last Quarter = 0.50), Waxing or Waning Gibbous = (0.50 – 0.99), & Full Moon = 1.00

Foreshortening (% Fore.)

The appearance of the comet’s tail due to the geometric orientation between the Earth and a Comet. (100% means the comet’s tail is parallel with the face of the Earth where as 0% means the tail is exactly perpendicular with respect to the face of the Earth!)

Altitude {Alt. ( ˚ )}

Altitude is the angle of position for any celestial object visible in the night sky with respect to the horizon regardless of cardinal direction . The angle has a range of only (0˚ to 90˚) although (0˚ to -90˚) can be applied to objects not visible. The altitude position will change throughout the sidereal day.

Azimuth {Azi. ( ˚ )}

Azimuth is the establish angle of position for any celestial object visible in the night sky. The range starts at the North (0˚) heading clockwise eastward with the following cardinal positions: NNE (22.5˚), NE (45˚), ENE (67.5˚), E (90˚), ESE (112.5˚), SE (135˚), SSE (157.5˚), S (180˚), SSW (202.5˚), SW (225˚), WSW ( 247.5˚), W (270˚), WNW (292.5˚), NW (315˚), & NNW (337.5˚)

Ephemeris Data Terminology

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Getting to know and learning how to read the Data

Spreadsheets!

Note that the rows in Red with white, bold font shows the dates where the Full Moon phase where either at New

Moon (0.00 – 0.05) or Full Moon (1.00).

Note that the first data spreadsheet for the month of November 2013 has five rows for the dates from (25 – 29)

November showing the ephemeris data during the time just before or after perihelion passage shown in light

orange.

• The olive green for dates (25 – 27) November for the comet data just before perihelion passage.

• The blue for dates (28 – 29) November for the comet data during and just after perihelion passage.

Note for the second data spreadsheet for the month of December 2013 has one row in light blue for 27 December

2013 in dark, bold font has the comet data during the perigee passage for Comet ISON!

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Ephemeris Data Terminology IAU MPC Ephemeris data for C/2012 S1 (ISON): (1 – 30) November 2013

CDT/CST Epoch (J2000.0) Basic Ephemeris Sky Motion Moon Phase Moon Mag.

Date hh:mm:ss R.A. Dec Delta R El. ( ˚ ) Ph. M1 % Fore. "/min P.A. (0.00 - 1.00) (Visual)

1-Nov-2013 00:00:00 11 13 40.2 06 11 45 N 1.223 0.991 51.9 52.0 5.79 22 3.59 117.4 0.06 -7.66

2-Nov-2013 00:00:00 11 18 52.4 05 31 04 N 1.196 0.966 51.4 53.4 5.63 20 3.75 117.6 0.02 -5.93

3-Nov-2013 00:00:00 11 24 18.6 04 48 16 N 1.168 0.942 50.9 54.8 5.46 19 3.93 117.7 0.00 -1.50

4-Nov-2013 00:00:00 11 29 59.9 04 03 15 N 1.142 0.917 50.3 56.7 5.29 17 4.12 117.8 0.01 -4.04

5-Nov-2013 00:00:00 11 35 57.4 03 15 52 N 1.116 0.891 49.6 57.9 5.11 16 4.33 117.9 0.04 -6.90

6-Nov-2013 00:00:00 11 42 12.1 02 25 59 N 1.090 0.865 48.8 59.6 4.92 14 4.55 118.0 0.10 -8.39

7-Nov-2013 00:00:00 11 48 45.4 01 33 29 N 1.065 0.839 48.0 61.4 4.74 13 4.78 118.0 0.18 -9.38

8-Nov-2013 00:00:00 11 55 38.4 00 38 16 N 1.041 0.813 47.1 63.2 4.54 11 5.02 118.0 0.28 -10.10

9-Nov-2013 00:00:00 12 02 52.6 00 19 47 S 1.018 0.786 46.0 65.1 4.34 10 5.28 118.0 0.39 -10.66

10-Nov-2013 00:00:00 12 10 29.4 01 20 46 S 0.996 0.758 44.9 67.2 4.12 8 5.55 118.0 0.50 -11.09

11-Nov-2013 00:00:00 12 18 30.3 02 24 43 S 0.975 0.730 43.6 69.3 3.91 7 5.84 117.9 0.61 -11.43

12-Nov-2013 00:00:00 12 26 56.8 03 31 39 S 0.955 0.702 42.2 71.5 3.4414 5 6.13 117.7 0.72 -11.69

13-Nov-2013 00:00:00 12 35 50.3 04 41 33 S 0.937 0.637 40.8 73.9 3.4408 4 6.44 117.5 0.81 -11.90

14-Nov-2013 00:00:00 12 45 12.5 05 54 19 S 0.920 0.643 39.1 76.3 3.19 3 6.76 117.2 0.88 -12.06

15-Nov-2013 00:00:00 12 55 04.8 07 09 47 S 0.904 0.612 37.4 78.9 2.92 2 7.08 116.9 0.94 -12.17

16-Nov-2013 00:00:00 13 05 28.6 08 27 43 S 0.890 0.581 35.5 81.5 2.64 1 7.40 116.5 0.98 -12.23

17-Nov-2013 00:00:00 13 16 25.1 09 47 44 S 0.879 0.549 33.6 84.3 2.35 1 7.72 115.9 1.00 -12.25

18-Nov-2013 00:00:00 13 27 55.5 11 09 23 S 0.869 0.516 31.4 87.1 2.03 0 8.04 115.3 1.00 -12.23

19-Nov-2013 00:00:00 13 40 00.6 12 32 06 S 0.862 0.482 29.2 90.1 1.68 0 8.34 114.5 0.98 -12.17

20-Nov-2013 00:00:00 13 52 41.3 13 55 08 S 0.858 0.447 26.9 93.1 1.31 0 8.63 113.6 0.94 -12.07

21-Nov-2013 00:00:00 14 05 58.1 15 17 41 S 0.856 0.411 24.4 96.1 0.87 0 8.91 112.6 0.88 -11.95

22-Nov-2013 00:00:00 14 19 51.7 16 38 47 S 0.858 0.372 21.9 99.1 0.38 1 9.17 111.3 0.81 -11.79

23-Nov-2013 00:00:00 14 34 23.2 17 57 23 S 0.863 0.332 19.2 102.1 -0.21 2 9.43 109.9 0.74 -11.60

24-Nov-2013 00:00:00 14 49 34.8 19 12 17 S 0.872 0.289 16.4 105.0 -0.94 3 9.70 108.2 0.65 -11.38

25-Nov-2013 00:00:00 15 05 31.3 20 22 05 S 0.886 0.243 13.6 107.6 -1.91 4 10.02 106.1 0.56 -11.12

26-Nov-2013 00:00:00 15 22 24.5 21 24 55 S 0.905 0.193 10.6 109.7 -3.41 6 10.49 103.4 0.46 -10.80

27-Nov-2013 00:00:00 15 40 45.2 22 17 19 S 0.932 0.135 7.4 110.2 -6.73 6 11.44 99.4 0.36 -10.41

28-Nov-2013 00:00:00 16 02 33.3 22 46 15 S 0.971 0.062 3.5 102.9 -7.01 4 14.93 89.8 0.27 -9.92

29-Nov-2013 00:00:00 16 23 07.1 18 42 05 S 0.957 0.057 2.8 120.5 -3.42 5 10.05 354.0 0.18 -9.28

30-Nov-2013 00:00:00 16 20 48.0 15 42 23 S 0.900 0.131 6.0 127.9 -1.96 21 6.31 347.8 0.10 -8.39

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Ephemeris Data Terminology IAU MPC Ephemeris data for C/2012 S1 (ISON): (1 December 2013 – 1 January 2014)

CDT/CST Epoch (J2000.0) Basic Ephemeris Sky Motion Moon Phase Moon Mag.

Date hh:mm:ss R.A. Dec Delta R El. ( ˚ ) Ph. M1 % Fore. "/min P.A. (0.00 - 1.00) (Visual)

1-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 18 43.4 13 27 18 S 0.858 0.189 8.7 127.9 -1.03 21 5.36 348.1 0.04 -7.02

2-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 17 00.5 11 26 49 S 0.822 0.240 11.2 127.0 -0.35 20 4.93 349.3 0.01 -4.43

3-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 15 34.9 09 32 53 S 0.790 0.287 13.6 125.8 0.17 19 4.73 350.8 0.00 -1.57

4-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 14 23.5 07 41 51 S 0.761 0.330 16.0 124.4 0.59 18 4.64 352.2 0.02 -6.08

5-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 13 23.9 05 51 35 S 0.734 0.370 18.3 123.0 0.94 17 4.63 353.6 0.07 -7.95

6-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 12 34.4 04 00 42 S 0.708 0.408 20.7 121.6 1.23 15 4.67 354.9 0.15 -9.09

7-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 11 53.9 02 08 08 S 0.684 0.445 23.0 120.0 1.49 14 4.75 356.0 0.24 -9.89

8-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 11 21.5 00 13 01 S 0.661 0.480 25.4 118.5 1.71 12 4.87 357.1 0.35 -10.48

9-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 10 56.5 01 45 22 N 0.639 0.514 27.8 116.9 1.91 11 5.01 358.0 0.46 -10.93

10-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 10 38.4 03 47 40 N 0.618 0.547 30.2 115.2 2.08 10 5.19 358.9 0.57 -11.28

11-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 10 26.7 05 54 30 N 0.598 0.579 32.7 113.4 2.24 9 5.39 359.6 0.67 -11.55

12-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 10 21.2 08 06 26 N 0.579 0.611 35.2 111.6 2.38 7 5.61 000.3 0.76 -11.77

13-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 10 21.7 10 23 58 N 0.561 0.641 37.8 109.7 2.51 6 5.86 000.9 0.84 -11.94

14-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 10 28.0 12 47 37 N 0.544 0.671 40.5 107.7 2.63 5 6.12 001.4 0.91 -12.07

15-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 10 40.2 15 17 47 N 0.528 0.700 43.2 105.7 2.74 4 6.41 001.9 0.96 -12.15

16-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 10 58.2 17 54 51 N 0.513 0.729 46.0 103.5 2.84 3 6.70 002.3 0.99 -12.20

17-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 11 22.2 20 39 06 N 0.499 0.757 48.9 101.2 2.93 2 7.01 002.7 1.00 -12.22

18-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 11 52.4 23 30 44 N 0.486 0.784 51.9 98.8 3.02 1 7.32 003.0 0.99 -12.19

19-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 12 29.2 26 29 48 N 0.474 0.811 55.0 96.4 3.11 1 7.64 003.3 0.97 -12.14

20-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 13 12.9 29 36 12 N 0.464 0.838 58.2 93.8 3.20 0 7.94 003.6 0.93 -12.05

21-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 14 04.2 32 49 38 N 0.455 0.864 61.4 91.1 3.28 0 8.23 003.9 0.87 -11.93

22-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 15 03.8 36 09 39 N 0.447 0.890 64.7 88.3 3.37 0 8.50 004.1 0.80 -11.78

23-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 16 12.8 39 35 31 N 0.440 0.915 68.0 85.5 3.49 0 8.73 004.4 0.72 -11.59

24-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 17 32.6 43 06 19 N 0.435 0.940 71.4 82.6 3.54 1 8.92 004.6 0.63 -11.37

25-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 19 05.0 46 40 55 N 0.432 0.965 74.8 79.6 3.63 1 9.06 004.9 0.53 -11.09

26-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 20 52.4 50 18 02 N 0.430 0.989 78.2 76.7 3.73 2 9.14 005.3 0.43 -10.76

27-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 22 58.1 53 56 12 N 0.429 1.014 81.5 73.7 3.82 4 9.16 005.7 0.33 -10.33

28-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 25 26.9 57 33 54 N 0.431 1.037 84.8 70.8 3.93 5 9.12 006.2 0.23 -9.77

29-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 28 25.3 61 09 36 N 0.434 1.061 88.0 67.9 4.04 7 9.01 006.7 0.14 -9.01

30-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 32 03.3 64 41 47 N 0.438 1.084 91.1 65.1 4.15 9 8.85 007.5 0.07 -7.91

31-Dec-2013 00:00:00 16 36 36.1 68 09 03 N 0.444 1.108 94.1 62.3 4.27 11 8.64 008.4 0.02 -6.10

1-Jan-2014 00:00:00 16 42 28.3 71 30 05 N 0.452 1.130 96.9 59.7 4.31 13 8.38 009.6 0.00 -2.25

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Michael Jager

12 November 2012

Current Status of Comet ISON (November 2013)

Damian Peach

6 November 2012

Astronomy Sketch of the Day

Yohan Archambaud

19 November 2013

Comet ISON is currently undergoing an outburst that has brighten the comet up to visual

magnitude 4.8 as of 15 November 2013. ISON is now dropping fast from the early morning

skies towards the Sun and should be a possible naked eye, daytime object if it starts to get

brighter than -4 magnitude to start matching the daytime observability to that of the planet

Venus. The comet has now two tails first observed as early as 4 November along with a new

bulbous – shaped coma. The main dust tail has been reported up to 7° degrees in length with

a central coma having a DC of 6 – 7 with a angular size of 3 – 5 arcminutes.

Dust Tail

Ion Tail

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Current Status of Comet ISON (November 2013)

Here is the latest spectra taking from light gathered from comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) showing three strong spectral lines of (C2

molecules), one OI (single = ionized Oxygen), and a possible Na line. The possible presence of Na would indicate not only

the presence of a new Ion tail, but a possible Na (Sodium tail).

This shows a rapid revolution and complex development in the morphological changes of comet ISON!

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Path of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) during the period of (22 October – 17 December) 2013.

This finder chart is a skytools snapshot taken on 28 November 2013 @ 00:00 UTC on same day as the comet undergoes perihelion passage. Note the orientation of the comet’s path matches that with it’s hyperbolic orbit thru the solar system which makes this a morning comet before and after perihelion during the November & December 2013 mornings!

© Courtesy of Skytools 3.2v, 2013.

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Path of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) during the period of (12 December 2013 – 9 January 2014).

This finder chart is a skytools snapshot taken on 27 December 2013 @ 00:00 UTC on same day as the comet undergoes perigee passage and moves into the morning twilight skies before dawn on for the month of December 2013 and will eventually move into the western, evening skies by 5 – 6 Jan 2014.

© Courtesy of Skytools 3.2v, 2013.

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Courtesy of NASA/ESA.

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The National Science Foundation in collaboration with Discovery & Astronomy Magazine have issued an international wide campaign to produce the best astrophotos of Comet C/2012 S1 ISON with the winner earning a cash prize of $2500!

www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/cometchallenge/

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Enjoy Comet ISON when you can, where ever you can, and how ever you can!

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Documents

Download the Special Prof. Comet Report for C 2012 S1 (ISON)