Latest pics of comet ISON as seen by amateurs

emo72

Did it keep a nucleus?

ZeRoY

emo72 wrote: »

Did it keep a nucleus?

We dont know what's in it but something is! There is a theory that it could be closely binded dust but even this theory is wearing thin as it wouldnt be expected to survive more than a few hours. Clearly even on last C3 pic at 2.13pm it still going strong.

Stack I did, up to today 2.13pm

Can see the up tail still blown by solar wind but the orbital tail is starting to show better and better! MAG +1 or thereabouts according to some.

Stargate

ZeRoY wrote: »

We dont know what's in it but something is! There is a theory that it could be closely binded dust but even this theory is wearing thin as it wouldnt be expected to survive more than a few hours. Clearly even on last C3 pic at 2.13pm it still going strong.

Stack I did, up to today 2.13pm

Can see the up tail still blown by solar wind but the orbital tail is starting to show better and better! MAG +1 or thereabouts according to some.

Too many now saying dust ... We can only live in hope now .
Seems the our almighty STAR ( the sun ) took its toll on ISON .

Great pic here
https://twitter.com/CometISONnews/status/406468049768685568/photo/1/large

ninebeanrows

Is ISON getting bigger?

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/

Looks alive to me!

McDook

Just watching Horizon Comet of the Century now on Sky+

I think Comet Kahoutek is going to be forgotten about completely as the prime example of a much hyped comet coming to nothing.

Stargate

Weathercheck wrote: »

Is ISON getting bigger?

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c3/512/

Looks alive to me!

Weathercheck , hope this helps .


From Karl Battams at NASA CIOC ( Comet ISON Observing Campaign )

After impressing us yesterday, comet ISON faded dramatically overnight, and left us with a comet with no apparent nucleus in the SOHO/LASCO C2 images. As the comet plunged through the solar atmosphere, and failed to put on a show in the SDO images, we understandably concluded that ISON had succumbed to its passage and died a fiery death. Except it didn't. Well, maybe...

After perihelion, a very faint smudge of dust appeared in the the LASCO C2 images along ISON's orbit. This surprised us a little, but we have seen puffs of dust from Sungrazer tails, so it didn't surprise us enormously and didn't change our diagnosis. We watched and waited for that dust trail to fade away. Except it didn't.

Now, in the latest LASCO C3 images, we are seeing something beginning to gradually brighten up again. One could almost be forgiven for thinking that there's a comet in the images!

Matthew and I are ripping our hair out right now as we know that so many people in the public, the media and in science teams want to know what's happened. We'd love to know that too! Right now, here's our working hypothesis:

As comet ISON plunged towards to the Sun, it began to fall apart, losing not giant fragments but at least a lot of reasonably sized chunks. There's evidence of very large dust in the form of that long thin tail we saw in the LASCO C2 images. Then, as ISON plunged through the corona, it continued to fall apart and vaporize, and lost its coma and tail completely just like Lovejoy did in 2011. (We have our theories as to why it didn't show up in the SDO images but that's not our story to tell - the SDO team will do that.) Then, what emerged from the Sun was a small but perhaps somewhat coherent nucleus, that has resumed emitting dust and gas for at least the time being. In essence, the tail is growing back, as Lovejoy's did.

So while our theory certainly has holes, right now it does appear that a least some small fraction of ISON has remained in one piece and is actively releasing material. We have no idea how big this nucleus is, if there is indeed one. If there is a nucleus, it is still too soon to tell how long it will survive. If it does survive for more than a few days, it is too soon to tell if the comet will be visible in the night sky. If it is visible in the night sky, it is too soon to say how bright it will be...

I think you get the picture, yes?

We have a whole new set of unknowns, and this ridiculous, crazy, dynamic and unpredictable object continues to amaze, astound and confuse us to no end. We ask that you please be patient with us for a couple of days as we analyze the data and try to work out what is happening. We realize that everyone now wants to know if it will be visible in the night sky, and how bright it might be. We really hate speculating right now but if someone were to force us into an answer, we would reluctantly say that at least some faint tail remnant should be visible in the coming week or so. But this is highly speculative so please don't take this too seriously just yet. We will absolutely post updated info here as soon as we're more confident, and I will of course continue blogging when I can in the meantime. Just be patient on this and the truth will unfold in time!

And I just want to end on this note: not long after comet ISON was discovered, it began to raise questions. Throughout this year, as many of you who have followed closely will appreciate, it has continued to confuse and surprise us. For the past few weeks, it has been particularly enigmatic and dynamic, in addition to being visually spectacular. This morning we thought it was dying, and hope was lost as it faded from sight. But like an icy phoenix, it has risen from the solar corona and - for a time at least - shines once more. This has unquestionably been the most extraordinary comet that Matthew and I, and likely many other astronomers, have ever witnessed. The universe is an amazing place and it has just amazed us again. This story isn't over yet, so don't stray too far from your computer for the next couple of days!


Really really hope she makes it and surprises us all and becomes "alive"
as you call it !!

Wouldn't it be great !!!

Fingers crossed for the next days and weeks .

Stargate

emo72

nice update from the nasa guys^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

nice to see them admit they really have no explanation for why it came back yet.

Stargate

emo72 wrote: »

nice update from the nasa guys^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

nice to see them admit they really have no explanation for why it came back yet.

Its a game of wait and see i think emo , but having said that , some of the images we've seen so far are amazing from ISON , could there still be a twist in the tale ( tail ) lol , sorry for the pun

Hal1

It was just charging it's solar panels for FTL travel .

emo72

Hal1 wrote: »

It was just charging it's solar panels for FTL travel .

haha hal. my propostion....its a spaceship thats activated by close contact with a star;) now its powering up and changing course:pac:

well its as good an explanation as anything else.

zenno

emo72 wrote: »

haha hal. my propostion....its a spaceship thats activated by close contact with a star;) now its powering up and changing course:pac:

well its as good an explanation as anything else.

It's an alien life-form like this one inside the comet. It just appeared in my bedroom a while ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSV3P90Ps7A

ZeRoY

Here is a summary of situation that I quite like:

Against 8:30 p.m. yesterday evening, the tail of ISON emerged from behind sun in the field of view of the LASCO instrument. At this point in time, however, it was unclear whether the tip of the tail concealed a nucleus or not. New images from this morning now allow further conclusions.

"The dust tail of the comet is now divided into two parts," explains Hermann Böhnhardt from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. According to Böhnhardt, the part of the tail that is pointing towards the sun consists of dust particles, which were released significantly before the comet's Perihelion passage – i.e. prior to reaching the closest point to the sun.

The other part, however, appears to contain more recent material: It was released when ISON passed the sun and suggests that at least part of the nucleus still existed and was active at that time.

The Max Planck researchers base their assessment on computer simulations in which they model the shape of the dust tail. "If we assume in our calculations that the comet has emitted dust at Perihelion, we can reproduce the current images quite well," says Böhnhardt.

Only the LASCO images from tomorrow, Saturday, will allow an analysis of whether a nucleus exists. The dust that ISON may release today needs a few hours to make its way into the visible tail region, where it can be detected. Whether the comet nucleus was still intact at Perihelion or continued its flight as a small fragment or as collection of chunks is not yet clear.

The instrument Sumer on board of the satellite SOHO, which was developed and built under the auspices of the Max Planck Institute in Lindau observed ISON last night in the hour when it directly approached the sun. The instrument divides the light that is sent into space by the celestial body into its individual components. From this, researchers can draw conclusions about the elements and molecules in the comet's dust cloud.

"Our measurements show a clear signal of the comet during its flight past the sun," says Max Planck scientist Werner Curdt. Exact results of the measurement, however, are not yet available.

http://www.mpg.de/7621979/winged-comet

ZeRoY

An update I picked up from Comet group on Yahoo,

ISON started to fade. My last measurements show that for the last 12h (from 9 to 19h UT) the comet faded by about 0.5m. However only for the last four hours it faded by more than 2m and obviously is less bright. My explanation is that due to the rapid phase angle increase up to 16h UT, the scattering effect compensated the fading. I estimated the comet to be between 2.6 and 3.1 magnitude now.

Here is last avail image from C3 at 9.32pm:



And stack showing "head" getting thinner

murrayp4

Nice video in this link

http://www.astrowatch.net/2013/11/comet-ison-may-have-survived-close.html

ZeRoY

Stack up to latest C3 image 16.06 today

Popoutman

Looks pretty diffuse now. I'm not hopeful at all of anything being left to see when it gets far enough to see through the twilight.

ZeRoY

Popoutman wrote: »

Looks pretty diffuse now. I'm not hopeful at all of anything being left to see when it gets far enough to see through the twilight.

Yep - clearly now the dust cloud remaining will continue to scatter and disappear totally, unless something is still on the orbit and starts lighting up then there will be nothing to see!

ZeRoY

Little summary video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t0GuP7CcFM

Rhys Essien

They are talking about Ison on 'The Sky at night' on BBC 1 now.

emo72

is it gone. the chatter has stopped:(

Hal1

Yes just a dust cloud now floating away into the foreverness of space. There are plenty other comets to view though. Although you need binos or a good scope to see most of them.

2 stroke

ZeRoY wrote: »

Stack up to latest C3 image 16.06 today

Looking at this pic. Has some of ison gone into orbit around the sun, hidden by the central disc, with just the tail showing? or is that just normal sun activity from about 12 o clock through to 3

Captain Chaos

Hal1 wrote: »

There are plenty other comets to view though. Although you need binos or a good scope to see most of them.

Mars is going to get a close encounter with a comet next year, less the 100,000km:O. For the rovers on Mars it's going to be the best light show ever. There are worries for the probs in orbit and the 2 on the way right now as they will arrive just before the comet passes.

jumpjack

Captain Chaos wrote: »

Mars is going to get a close encounter with a comet next year, less the 100,000km:O. For the rovers on Mars it's going to be the best light show ever. There are worries for the probs in orbit and the 2 on the way right now as they will arrive just before the comet passes.

Can a comet "brightness on Mars" be estimated?
Which is the name and the orbit of the comet? Can it be already seen in any space simulator?

Captain Chaos

jumpjack wrote: »

Can a comet "brightness on Mars" be estimated?
Which is the name and the orbit of the comet? Can it be already seen in any space simulator?

It's called C/2013 A1 or Siding Spring. It's closed approach to Mars will be on 19/10/14

MeteoritesEire

interesting read about Siding Spring

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24715-fiercest-meteor-shower-on-record-to-hit-mars-via-comet.html#.UqboMfRdUrU