Approaching comet can surpass the moon
A blazing comet to Earth could surpass the full moon when it passes by the end of next year - if it survives its close encounter with the sun.
The newly discovered object, known as comet ISON, is due to within 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) from the center of the sun fly on November 28, 2013 said astronomer Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near Earth Object program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California
As the comet approaches, the warmth of the sun evaporating ice in his body, creating what could be a spectacular tail that is visible in the night sky from the earth without a telescope or binoculars even from about October 2013 to January 2014.
Celestial visitors like Comet ISON hail from the Oort Cloud, a cluster of frozen rocks and ice, orbiting the Sun 50,000 times farther away than the orbit of the Earth. Every now and then, one will gravity be bumped out of the cloud and begin a long solo orbit around the sun.
On September 21, two amateur astronomers from Russia spotted what looked like a comet in images taken with a 16-inch (0.4-meter) telescope that is part of the global International Scientific Optical Network, or ISON, from which the object derives to its name.
"The goal was slow and had a unique movement. But we could not be certain that it was a comet, because the size of our images are quite small and the object was very compact," astronomer Artyom Novichonok, one of the discoverers, wrote in a comet email list hosted by Yahoo.Comet ISON's path is very similar to a comet that passed by Earth in 1680, one that was so bright tail reportedly seen in daylight.
The projected path of the comet ISON is similar to the 1680 comet that some scientists wonder if they fragments from a common parent body.
"Comet ISON ... would the brightest comet seen in many generations - even brighter than the full moon," wrote the British astronomer David Whitehouse in The Independent.
A blazing comet to Earth could surpass the full moon when it passes by the end of next year - if it survives its close encounter with the sun.
The newly discovered object, known as comet ISON, is due to within 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) from the center of the sun fly on November 28, 2013 said astronomer Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near Earth Object program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California
As the comet approaches, the warmth of the sun evaporating ice in his body, creating what could be a spectacular tail that is visible in the night sky from the earth without a telescope or binoculars even from about October 2013 to January 2014.
Celestial visitors like Comet ISON hail from the Oort Cloud, a cluster of frozen rocks and ice, orbiting the Sun 50,000 times farther away than the orbit of the Earth. Every now and then, one will gravity be bumped out of the cloud and begin a long solo orbit around the sun.
On September 21, two amateur astronomers from Russia spotted what looked like a comet in images taken with a 16-inch (0.4-meter) telescope that is part of the global International Scientific Optical Network, or ISON, from which the object derives to its name.
"The goal was slow and had a unique movement. But we could not be certain that it was a comet, because the size of our images are quite small and the object was very compact," astronomer Artyom Novichonok, one of the discoverers, wrote in a comet email list hosted by Yahoo.Comet ISON's path is very similar to a comet that passed by Earth in 1680, one that was so bright tail reportedly seen in daylight.
The projected path of the comet ISON is similar to the 1680 comet that some scientists wonder if they fragments from a common parent body.
"Comet ISON ... would the brightest comet seen in many generations - even brighter than the full moon," wrote the British astronomer David Whitehouse in The Independent.
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