Comet ISON – What will happen?
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Even further update Now I t appears the comet may have in fact survived despite what most scientists in world initially thought. If it did it could be visible in the night sky in about two weeks time on the return leg from the sun
Solarham.net said about the commt Thursday was a day full of excitement and also many questions in regards to Comet ISON. The eyes of sky watchers around the world were tuned into a number of space weather websites wondering if the sungazing comet would survive its close encounter with our star. Comet ISON brightened throughout the day as it neared the sun, with a long dusty tail visible behind it in both LASCO and STEREO imagery. When it came time for the predicted perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) at 18:44 UTC, initial indications were that ISON did not survive the intense solar atmosphere and burned up. Comet ISON was declared dead by many. After a few hours had passed, what appeared to be a fragment of the comet re-emerged in both LASCO C2 and STEREO Ahead coronagraph imagery. Did ISON survive? Imagery and video below appear to support that scenario. More updates to follow regarding this event. Stay Tuned!
***Update*** So it would appear unfortunately that ISON turned out to be no match for the heat of the Sun and went with option 3 and disintengrated as can be seen clearly in the third slower view on the video below
Live streaming video by Ustream
A comet that left the outer edge of the solar system more than 5.5 million years ago will pass close by the Sun later today. Comet ISON, as the object is known, will become visible in Earth’s skies in the next week or two if it survives.
“There are three possibilities when this comet rounds the Sun,” said Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office.
1)”It could be tough enough to survive the passage of the Sun and be a fairly bright, naked-eye object,”
2) The Sun’s gravity could rip the comet apart, creating several big chunks.
3) if the comet is very weak, it could break up into a cloud of dust.
Comet ISON is due to pass 1.2 million km from the surface of the Sun at 6.37pm today. At that distance, the comet will reach temperatures approaching 2,760 degrees Celsius.
Scientists estimate that ISON needs to be about 200 metres to survive its close encounter with the Sun. The most recent measurements indicate the comet is more than twice that size and perhaps as big as 1.2km. The comet was discovered last year by two amateur astronomers using Russia’s International Scientific Optical Network.
