Tag Archives: Comets

Incoming – Comet ISON

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COMET ISON: Comet ISON is still more than two months away from its spectacular close encounter with the sun. Amateur astronomers aren’t waiting. The brightening comet has become a good target for backyard telescopes in the pre-dawn sky and pictures of the comet are pouring in. Chris Schur captured this image from his home observatory in Payson, Arizona:

“This 25 minute exposure shows the comet through a 12 inch telescope,” says Schur. “The image has sharp focus, perfect tracking and the star trails are unbroken and smooth. A nearby star added to the nice composition.”

At the moment, ISON is too dim for the naked eye–“I estimate the comet’s magnitude to be +12.5,” says Schur–but it is on track to become an impressive sungrazer. For comparison, Comet ISON is brighter than Comet Lovejoy was in 2011 at a similar distance from the sun. The fact that Comet Lovejoy turned into a spectacular sungrazer bodes well for the performance of Comet ISON.

Observers of Comet ISON will notice that it is in the same part of the sky as Mars. The comet will make a close approach to the Red Planet on October 1st, and during that time Mars satellites will be taking ISON’s picture at point blank range. Those images will likely rival or improve upon the view from Earth.

fr/spaceweather.com

More Sundiving COmets

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ANOTHER SUNDIVING COMET: Here we go again. Another comet is diving into the sun, the second one this week. Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) are monitoring the death plunge:

The icy comet, which probably measures a few 10s of meters wide, is vaporizing furiously and is not expected to survive much longer.

Like the comet that came before it, this one is a member of the Kreutz family. Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a single giant comet many centuries ago. They get their name from 19th century German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who studied them in detail.

Because of their common parentage, sungrazers often come in clusters. After today’s sungrazer evaporates, it wouldn’t be surprising to find yet another in the offing.

fr/spaceweather.com

Comet Pan-Starrs Over the VLA

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COMET PAN-STARRS UPDATE: As it emerges from the glare of the evening sun, Comet Pan-STARRS is becoming even more photogenic. Last night, March 17th, Alan Dyer caught it setting behind the Very Large Array, a radio telescope in Socorro, New Mexico:

Movie-goers will remember seeing the VLA in Carl Sagan’s movie Contact starring Jodie Foster. Among astronomers, the array is even more famous for real-life scientific discoveries. On March 17th, the great telescope was window dressing for a comet.

“Light from the nearly quarter Moon high in the sky illuminated the landscape and highlighted the rims of the 27 dishes of the VLA,” says Dyer. “Fortunately, the array was arranged in its most compact formationfor easy photography – at times the dishes can be spread out over many miles.”

“The comet appeared in deep twilight,” he continues. “A classic curving dust tail is now obvious in photos. This comet will bear watching and shooting over the next month, no matter where you are in the northern hemisphere.”

fr/spaceweather.com

Comet 96/Maccholz Visits our Solar System

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HOT COMET: Periodic comet 96P/Maccholz is passing by the sun today deep inside the orbit of Mercury. At closest approach, the icy visitor from the outer solar system will be less than 12 million miles (0.13 AU) from the solar surface. Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory are monitoring the encounter:

“Discovered in 1986, Comet 96P/Machholz is a fascinating comet that has passed through SOHO coronagraph images four times now,” says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab. “It’s not a huge comet but it is very photogenic, and puts on quite a display with its beautiful dusty tail.”

In an essay posted on his web site, Battams explains why the comet is so fascinating. Many researchers suspect 96P/Machholz is not a native of our solar system; some chemical evidence suggests it came from another star. Also, 96P/Machholz appears to be dynamically related (that is, the comet’s orbit is related) to a diverse collection of other objects in the solar system including asteroid 2003 EH1 and the Quadrantid, Southern Delta Aquariid, and daytime Arietid meteoroid streams. All of these things–the asteroid, the comet, and the meteoroids–might be fragments of a single “foreign” body that broke apart thousands of years ago.

fr/spaceweather.com

Comet Swan Dives into the Sun

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BRIGHT COMET DIVES INTO RADIATION STORM: A bright comet is diving into the sun. It was discovered just last week by SOHO’s SWAN instrument, so it has been named “Comet SWAN.” The comet’s death plunge ( or “swan dive”) comes just as the sun has unleashed a strong flare and radiation storm around Earth. SOHO images of the comet are confused to some degree by energetic protons striking the camera. Nevertheless, you can see Comet SWAN moving through the electronic “snow” in this updated 17 hour movie:

This is a Kreutz sungrazer, a fragment of the same ancient comet that produced sungrazing Comet Lovejoy in Dec. 2011. According to comet expert Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC, “Comet SWAN is one of the brightest Kreutz-group comets ever observed by SOHO, although not quite as bright as Comet Lovejoy.” Battams forecasts a peak magnitude of -1 for Comet SWAN, while Lovejoy was three magnitudes brighter at -4.

Will Comet SWAN survive its plunge through the sun’s atmosphere as Comet Lovejoy did? Probably not, but experts also said Comet Lovejoy would not survive, and they were happily wrong. Comet’s SWAN’s closest approach to the sun will likely come on March 14th.

fr/spaceweather.com

Update on Comet Lovejoy

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COMET LOVEJOY FROM ORBIT: Veteran astronaut Dan Burbank has seen many amazing things. Once, he even flew through the aurora borealis. So when Burbank says “[Comet Lovejoy] is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in space,” it really means something. Currently serving onboard the International Space Station, Burbank photographed the sungrazing comet on Dec. 21st, an experience he describes in this NASA video:

Burbank describes the tail of Comet Lovejoy as a “green glowing arc at least 10 degrees long.” He saw it just before orbital sunrise emerging from Earth’s limb, which was “lit up as a bright sliver of blue and purple.”

After plunging through the sun’s atmosphere only 120,000 km above the stellar surface on Dec. 16th, and improbably surviving, Comet Lovejoy has become the finest comet since Comet McNaught in 2007. Its orbit is carrying it through the skies of the southern hemisphere where sunrise sky watchers are seeing the comet almost as clearly as Burbank did. One wonders if Burbank was looking out the window on Dec. 24th when Carlos Caccia took this picture of the ISS transiting Lovejoy’s tail over Intendente Alvear, Argentina:

“The ISS passed through the Southern Cross, continued parallel to the Milky Way, and finally arrived at the tail of Lovejoy with its typical golden color,” says Caccia. “What a lucky shot!”

The visibility of Comet Lovejoy should continue to improve in he mornings ahead as the comet moves away from the sun into the darker skies before dawn. Sky watchers should set their alarm for an early-Christmas treat

from:   spaceweather.com

Dark Sun — April 2011

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12/1/2011 — “Dark sun” from April 2011 — hypothesis = sun was outshined (plasma over-powered) by another object

Posted on December 1, 2011

When this happened, NASA claimed it was EARTH passing in front of the Sun .. obscuring the sun from our view…

Well.. now in review… the SDO (solar dynamics observatory) from April 1st and 2nd 2011http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/

The camera views through the HMI, 1700, and 1600 (and several others) clearly show .. that the Earth DID NOT PASS in front of the sun.. because we can STILL SEE through the “darkness” in several of these shots !!!  ONLY VISIBLE SPECTRUM appeared to “turn dark”.

I’d like to explain my hypothesis of what actually caused the sun to “appear to turn dark”…

IT DID NOT GO DARK — rather.. an object BRIGHTER passed by — an object that is emitting a field of plasma which is interacting with the sun in such a way as to negate the SDO sensors…

This BRIGHTER, or more powerful object de-luminated or possibly even ILLUMINATED the surface of the sun… thus revealing the true  surface of the star.. which is indeed dark black !

So we still received the light on earth from the sun.. it never physically “went dark”.. rather we must have gotten a double dose of light on that day.. because whatever the SDO picked up was shining  BRIGHTER than our sun.. or was VERY CLOSE TO IT !!!

The shots below tell  the tale.. we would NOT be able to see through the Earth obviously.. yet the HMI and other shots from the SDO do not lie !  Unless earth has become transparent!

In an ironic twist of fate.. if you go check the Magnetogram or Dopplergram from the same time.. the FEED WAS CUT for that hour !!  lol.. they update every few minutes.. then we have that whole hour “missing”… EPIC ! …. NASA = n.ever a. s.traight a.nswer

 

Comet Dives Into Sun

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UNDIVING COMET: A comet is diving into the sun today. Discovered just yesterday by amateur comet hunters Michal Kusiak of Poland and Sergei Schmalz of Germany, the icy visitor from the outer solar system is expected to brighten to first magnitude before it disintegrates during the late hours of Sept. 14th. Click to view an updated movie of the comet’s death plunge:

The doomed comet appears to be a member of the Kreutz family. Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a single giant comet many centuries ago. They get their name from 19th century German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who studied them in detail. Several Kreutz fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day. Most, measuring less than a few meters across, are too small to see, but occasionally a big fragment like this one attracts attention.

from:  spaceweather.com

Comets in the Night Sky

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Comet Double Feature: Comets Elenin & Garradd Now Showing in Night Sky

by Geoff Gaherty, Starry Night Education
Date: 26 August 2011 Time: 10:00 AM ET
Comet Garradd can be seen right now with binoculars in the constellation Sagitta
Comet Garradd can be seen right now with binoculars in the constellation Sagitta

Skywatchers often ask “When’s the next comet?” In fact, if you’re prepared to do a bit of searching, there are always several comets visible in the night sky, including two right now.

Some comets are like old friends, they keep coming back at regular intervals to visit. These are called periodic comets; Comet Halley was the first such comet to be identified, by Edmond Halley back in 1705. It returns to the inner solar system every 75 to 76 years; its last appearance was in 1986 and its next will be in 2061. At present Halley is out just beyond Neptune;s orbit.

Other comets are one-time visitors: they come in to visit us from the Oort Cloud, warm themselves for a few months by the sun, and then head back out to the farthest reaches of the solar system.

to read more, go to: http://www.space.com/12746-comet-elenin-comet-garradd-night-sky-observing-tips.html