Comet ISON, November 2013

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Dave Lillis
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Comet ISON, November 2013

Post by Dave Lillis » Thu Sep 27, 2012 10:56 am

Hi All,
As I'm sure most of you are aware at this stage, I'm abit conservative when it comes to comet predictions, but a comet has been discovered in the past few days that could literally be a jaw dropping event.
A new comet named ISON has been discovered beyond Jupiter and its on the way in!
A number of stats to consider,

1, This comet will come within 2 million miles of the suns surface, that is amazingly close!!
2, it comes within 40 million miles of Earth, that is a flyby in astronomical terms
3, its orbit has been approximately deduced, viewing it is going to be very favorable from the northern hemisphere, so we'll see it.

Some say that this is going to be the best comet in the last few hundred years, some say its going to be at mag -16, that's brighter then the full Moon, visible in daytime, cast a tail that fills the sky, a once in a civilization event and so on.....

To temper this, there are a number of factors to ponder, comets passing that close to the Sun experience furnace like temperatures, the comet could be disrupted/vaporized/destroyed by such a close encounter, the comet could break up as it nears the Sun and form a string of pearls which could be an unbelievable view!
OR this comet could be a damp squib and we not see as whole lot.

Some have made comparisons of this comets orbit to the great comet of 1680, the orbits of both are very similar and might indicate that the 2 comets came from the same object. If they're made of the same material, it would indicate that the comet could be bright.

Comets are fickle beasts, highly unpredictable, and predictions can be completely wrong and many comet predictions are just not believable. However this comets stats look real good and if the comet is only half as good as the predictions, then this comet could make other comets such as Hale-Bopp and McNaught look like firecrackers. 8)
Lets hope so, time will tell.
Dave L. on facebook, See my images in flickr
Carrying around my 20" obsession is going to kill me, but what a way to go. :)

Frank Ryan
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Post by Frank Ryan » Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:39 am

Such good news. yea caution is advised in astronomical doses but
it is looking good none the less. not long to wait and see either! I wonder does it coencide with any thing like an eclipse or conjunction. time to check starry night!

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Dave Lillis
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Post by Dave Lillis » Sat Sep 29, 2012 10:56 am

if it was a year earlier it would have coincided with the australia eclipse, what a view that would have been.
You remember comet holmes through the 20", I thought that would be hard to beat.
If this has a tail reaching half way across, it could have a nucleus over a degree across in the sky, no telescope would do it justice,
binos and naked eye only !
it would make you consider getting a new camera and going south to see it!
Dave L. on facebook, See my images in flickr
Carrying around my 20" obsession is going to kill me, but what a way to go. :)

Frank Ryan
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Post by Frank Ryan » Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:34 am

What about Comet Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4)? Will they be anyway near each other? (I've no starry night)
:cry:

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Dave Lillis
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Post by Dave Lillis » Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:33 am

Thats supposed to be in the spring 2013 I think, I'm hoping to have them up on starrynight for the Thursday meeting
Dave L. on facebook, See my images in flickr
Carrying around my 20" obsession is going to kill me, but what a way to go. :)

Roy Stewart
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Post by Roy Stewart » Mon Oct 01, 2012 1:28 pm

Hey Guys...

Looks like you can add another bright sun crossing comet
to that list... Comet Encke(2P) will be leaving a comet trial across
the sky the same time as ISON according to Starry Night Pro Plus 6.

Cheers Roy :D :D
Roy Stewart.

Frank Ryan
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Post by Frank Ryan » Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:28 pm

Starry night has the habit of making all comets look amazing. I think it's just the graphic they use.

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Dave Lillis
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Post by Dave Lillis » Tue Oct 02, 2012 10:21 pm

ah ye, I was more on about showing the orbit and how close it gets to us
one thing I noted is that it passes north of us and will make a right angle with us and the sun, perpendicular to the ecliptic, I havent seen an orbit like this before tbh. it gets fairly close,..
and you should see what the comet does at perihelion, very cool !!
Dave L. on facebook, See my images in flickr
Carrying around my 20" obsession is going to kill me, but what a way to go. :)

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Post by Dave Lillis » Tue Oct 23, 2012 8:49 am

I dont see any reference to encke on the web for 2013 regarding showing a good display....
Dave L. on facebook, See my images in flickr
Carrying around my 20" obsession is going to kill me, but what a way to go. :)

Frank Ryan
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Post by Frank Ryan » Mon Feb 04, 2013 9:23 am

This really is the year of the comet!
Comet Lemmon is brightening in SH skies.
Looks like we will get a look at it in April. :-)

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