Posted on 11/25/2013 12:38:44 PM PST by Red Badger
Professional astronomers are eagerly awaiting the comet's much-anticipated brush with the sun, expected for Thanksgiving Day.
The promising Comet ISON's close pass by the sun this week has amateur astronomers on the edge of their seats, but professional scientists are anticipating the celestial encounter with perhaps even greater relish.
Comet ISON is set to skim just 730,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) above the surface of the sun on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28). The comet has brightened considerably as it has zoomed closer and closer to the sun in recent weeks, thrilling stargazers who have captured amazing photos of ISON and giving researchers interested in comet composition a lot to look forward to in the coming days.
"We're going to see primitive solar system material outgassing and sublimating when it's right close to the sun," said Karl Battams of the U.S. Naval Research Lab in Washington, D.C., who studies "sungrazing" comets like ISON. "So that right there gives us a huge chunk of valuable information."
A pristine sungrazer
It's not particularly rare for a comet to zip close to the sun, or even dive straight through our star's sizzling-hot atmosphere. But Comet ISON is special, researchers say.
For starters, Comet ISON is bigger than most other sungrazers, with a core estimated to be about 1,650 feet (500 meters) wide, Battams said. Further, Comet ISON is likely making its first trip through the inner solar system from the distant, frigid comet repository known as the Oort Cloud. So its volatile components have not been baked off already by previous encounters with the sun, giving scientists a rare look at a relatively pristine comet.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Space ping!................
Five bucks on the under.
Here’s hoping’ it blows up reeeeal good.
Thanks for the map.
But we won’t see it if it’s on the other side of the sun. It just won’t re-appear on our side..................
Just hang a right at Zubenelgenubi and go for about 2 o’clock.............
which cult is going to cash out this time?
I'd settle for Democrats.
Hillary’s Gate Cult?................
How will ISON affect the Green Bay/Detroit game?
Green Bay will lose.............it’s in the stars..................
Thanks Red Badger, nice extra to APoD.
Yeah, Zubenelgenubi, number 39 of the 58 navigational stars, one of my favorites.
With any good luck, it’ll melt off the ice going around, and settle on a steady course for D.C.
Have any FReepers seen Ison yet? I look east every morning when I get home from work and haven’t seen anything.
Yes?
You should PING Zubenelgenubi and tell him.............
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