Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Comet ISON from STEREO

NASA ^ | November 23, 2013 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: Karl Battams, NASA, STEREO, CIOC]

[SunkenCiv]

The Big One

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[cripplecreek]

Looks a bit like fertilization to me.

[darkwing104]

Cool image. You see the effects of the solar winds.

[momtothree]

We must have seen the same “fertilization movies” when we were in middle school. LOL! That’s what it looked like to me as well.

[BenLurkin]

I’ll see your pic and raise you a video....

Comet ISON show from Teide observatory on Nov. 22nd, 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtEb376ARsI

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Hey, neat.

[BenLurkin]

Also, the movment of Encke’s tail is very interesting. I never thought of a comet’s tail having that kind of motion.

[Conan the Librarian]

Went out this morning to Ft. Pulaski to try to catch something, ANYTHING.

I did see Comet Lovejoy. It’s almost overhead at 5:00am and approaching the tail of the dipper.

I saw Mercury and Saturn rise (along with skyglow), but, I was fighting a band of clouds and said skyglow, so I may have not or I may have seen the nucleus of ISON.

Too Much glow now, have to wait til it gets brighter or further away from the Sun.

BTW, when I got home this morning, the band of clouds had parted and I got a nice view of Mercury before Sunrise.

[onyx]

I love this!
Thank you so much, SunkenCiv!!!

[Hoodat]

I am assuming that the sun is to the left, which would mean that the tails are pointing in the wrong direction. A comet’s tail always points away from the sun no matter what direction it is traveling.

[Conan the Librarian]

Sun to the right. The moving material from the right is from the Sun.

Not sure about the angle here though. In the Sky, ISON is passed Mercury, but, I don’t know if it has crossed Mercury’s orbit....Sky Safari makes it look like it has, but...

[qam1]

So, is this thing finally visible to the naked eye?

[JoeProBono]

[SunkenCiv]

Good question, I dunno. I think that will happen in December.

[SunkenCiv]

When there’s no overcast, Jupiter is the big one in the sky here. No scope though, and I can’t hold binoculars still enough.

[hattend]

Sun is to the right, why is Earth inside Mercury’s orbit? Or what am I missing here?

[fieldmarshaldj]

I hope it doesn’t fertilize Earth, or we’re in big trouble.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, this is disorienting. The position of the satellite makes this possible — Mercury is much closer, Earth is much bigger.

[Jeremiah Jr]

ISON backwards is NOSI

Numbers 24:17 “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult...

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