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NASA Photos Show Outburst from Potential 'Comet of the Century'
space.com ^ | July 23, 2013 04:59pm | Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer |

Posted on 07/24/2013 6:55:58 AM PDT by BenLurkin

A comet that could put on a dazzling show when it zooms through the inner solar system later this year is already blasting out huge amounts of gas and dust, new observations by a NASA spacecraft show.

...

The comet, which is about 3 miles (5 km) wide, is cruising toward a close encounter with the sun on Nov. 28, when it will skim just 724,000 miles (1.16 million km) above the solar surface. ISON could blaze up dramatically around this time, perhaps shining as brightly as the full moon in the sky, researchers say. But there's no guarantee that ISON will live up to the hype. For example, it could break apart as it approaches the sun, fizzling out as some other "comet of the century" candidates have done over the years.

...

Comet ISON is becoming more active as it warms up during this epic journey. Researchers expect to get an increasingly detailed look at ISON's composition over time, because different materials boil off at different distances from the sun.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: 2012s1; astronomy; comet2012s1; cometison; greencomet; ison; nasa; science
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1 posted on 07/24/2013 6:55:58 AM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

As long as there’s no Hammer Fall we’re cool.


2 posted on 07/24/2013 6:56:56 AM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: BenLurkin

Increased Sun Spot activity is why Comet are associated with bad times on Earth.


3 posted on 07/24/2013 7:00:58 AM PDT by bmwcyle (People who do not study history are destine to believe really ignorant statements.)
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To: SunkenCiv; BenLurkin
APOD bonus ping.


4 posted on 07/24/2013 7:06:50 AM PDT by Squawk 8888 (I'd give up chocolate but I'm no quitter)
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To: BenLurkin

Hope it’s better than Halley’s Comet turned out to be. Course, that’s not sayin’ much, seeing as how Halley’s Comet was as luminous and exciting as the signal indicator on a 63 Biscayne...


5 posted on 07/24/2013 7:13:50 AM PDT by Doctor 2Brains
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To: Black Agnes

Ice cream sundae...


6 posted on 07/24/2013 7:19:14 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: BenLurkin

Comet....it’ll make your teeth turn green
Comet....it tastes like gasoline
Comet...it’ll make you vomit
So get some Comet, and vomit, today


7 posted on 07/24/2013 7:20:17 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Doctor 2Brains

Yeah, the last Halley’s show was the worst viewing in many centuries. The one right before that was spectacular, though.


8 posted on 07/24/2013 7:20:56 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: null and void

Hopefully not.

That book scared me. The thought of a 2000ft wave coming in from the GOM is numbing.


9 posted on 07/24/2013 7:21:40 AM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: Black Agnes

It wouldn’t be the first time. The rapids way up the Brazos river are turbidite deposits from Chicxulub.

That was a bad day to be a dinosaur...


10 posted on 07/24/2013 7:26:35 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: null and void

Will this comet produce a spectacular meteor shower for centuries to come? That is what produces m. showers, after all.


11 posted on 07/24/2013 7:28:25 AM PDT by Doctor 2Brains
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To: null and void

I wonder just how far inland that wave went. Wasn’t the shoreline vastly different then? I haven’t been able to find any really good answers to that one. Closest estimate I can find is something like 150km inland. Staggering if true.


12 posted on 07/24/2013 7:30:04 AM PDT by Black Agnes
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To: Black Agnes
That I simply don't know. 150 km sounds like a reasonable guess for flat shorelines near the strike. The crater is about 120 km in diameter today, and all the water it displaced had to go somehwere.

And that wasn't the worst of it...

13 posted on 07/24/2013 7:46:05 AM PDT by null and void (Republicans create the tools of oppression, and the democrats gleefully use them!)
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To: BenLurkin

From the description “blasting out huge amounts of gas” what are they going to name the comet? Obama Comet? Congressional Comet? Hillary Comet?


14 posted on 07/24/2013 7:54:04 AM PDT by 2nd Amendment (Proud member of the 48% . . giver not a taker)
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To: BenLurkin

I don’t see how a comet that gets as close as 724,000 miles from the Sun could possibly survive. The temperatures in the corona alone would bust it up nicely.


15 posted on 07/24/2013 7:55:38 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (So Obama "inherited" a mess? Firemen "inherit" messes too. Ever see one put gasoline on it?)
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To: Doctor 2Brains

63 Biscayne, all jacked up.

16 posted on 07/24/2013 8:16:41 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah, so shall it be again,")
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To: 2nd Amendment

I-SON


17 posted on 07/24/2013 8:23:22 AM PDT by Errant
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To: BenLurkin

Bigger than comet Kohoutek?


18 posted on 07/24/2013 8:25:55 AM PDT by Hoodat (BENGHAZI - 4 KILLED, 2 MIA)
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To: null and void
The one right before that was spectacular, though.

The next one is supposed to be spectacular as well.

19 posted on 07/24/2013 8:27:28 AM PDT by Hoodat (BENGHAZI - 4 KILLED, 2 MIA)
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To: fella

How very.... Urban?


20 posted on 07/24/2013 8:31:04 AM PDT by Doctor 2Brains
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