Comet of the Century

[drewboy12]

This is the first I have heard about this! Pretty exciting if you ask me. Be amazing to see a comet in the sky again, let alone during the day!

The comet already has a 64,000km-long (almost 40,000 miles) tail of dust and gas that may become visible to the naked eye - possibly even in daylight - later in the year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21348873

[CaptainCrunch]

I'll believe it when I see it, remember the hype around Halley's comet that became a fuzzy non event.

[saskflames69]

12 years in and we're already calling it the "Comet of the Century?" Who's to say there won't be an even more exciting comet that flies by in 2048?

[afc wimbledon]

Repent, the end is nigh

[T@T]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I'll believe it when I see it, remember the hype around Halley's comet that became a fuzzy non event.

Halley didn't have a real close approach in the 80's, it's just famous because of other approaches it has had, one(about 2000 years ago) had it so close it's tail took up half the sky!

I remember seeing Hale–Bopp in the late 90's...it was extremely visable to the naked eye. I watch it for months.

ISON is supposed to pass by earth 3 times closer than Hale-Bopp...so start believing!

[SebC]

Originally Posted by T@T

ISON is supposed to pass by earth 3 times closer than Hale-Bopp...so start believing!

ISON isn't really its name... just where it was discovered, as in "C/2012 S1 (ISON)".

[Bigtime]

That comet can only mean one thing, dragons.

[drewboy12]

Originally Posted by T@T

Halley didn't have a real close approach in the 80's, it's just famous because of other approaches it has had, one(about 2000 years ago) had it so close it's tail took up half the sky!

I remember seeing Hale–Bopp in the late 90's...it was extremely visable to the naked eye. I watch it for months.

ISON is supposed to pass by earth 3 times closer than Hale-Bopp...so start believing!

Hale-Bopp is such a distinct memory of mine as a kid, looking up at the stars and seeing this glowing comet... Seemed so fake at that age. Im excited to be able to see another comet in the sky.

[polak]

I was 8 years old when Hale-Bopp was visable yet I don't remember anything about it at all. Not hearing about it, not seeing it, nothing. I have no idea how that happened.

[gargamel]

My only real memory of Hale Bopp was the Heaven's Gate cult. Hopefully this comet inspires less suicides.

[MRCboicgy]

I saw this, and this weird flashback from when I was a kid popped in to mind:

[Vulcan]

I never got tired of looking at Hale-Bopp. My best memory was late at night driving up the hill on Shaganappi Trail with the comet right in front of me. Awesome.

[Nyah]

This one is supposedly going to be visible for a couple of months, and at some points they're predicting it'll be brighter than the Moon. Can't wait!

[CaptainCrunch]

this is what I want. I think it was called McNaughton in 2007

[Cube Inmate]

Originally Posted by Nyah

This one is supposedly going to be visible for a couple of months, and at some points they're predicting it'll be brighter than the Moon. Can't wait!

When they say "brighter than the moon," they're referring to total brightness, not surface brightness. That is to say, a comet's tail may cover tens of degrees of the sky, whereas the moon is concentrated in a circle half a degree in diameter. The total light you get from both can be the same, but one looks a whole lot brighter than the other.

Comet McNaught (the 2007 one) may have had an overall brightness greater than that of Venus, but comparing the two side-by-side you would still have said Venus was brighter. That said, it was pretty awesome to see a naked-eye comet in twilight that year.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by SebC

ISON isn't really its name... just where it was discovered, as in "C/2012 S1 (ISON)".

If NASA is calling it ISON...thats good enough for me!
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/as...d20130205.html

And for those wondering about it brightness, this is predicted after it circles the sun and is on the way out of the solar system.

[sureLoss]

Bump!

The comet is expected to be its brightest on November 28th, almost a month from now.

Pretty cool guide for amateurs to watch for the comet:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/ou.../#.Um3oNhD3PTo

[CaptainCrunch]

Any last words?

[To Be Quite Honest]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Any last words?

Yes, I have a telescope for sale! $50.00!

[Vulcan]

Looks like it's going to burn up.

Regardless of when the story begins, we know exactly when it will reach its climax: at 1:41 p.m. EST on Nov. 28, 2013, when the ice-packed Comet ISON reaches perihelion — the point closest to the sun — passing less than 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) above the solar surface. There, ISON will roast at more than 2,000 degrees Celsius (hotter than 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit), boiling off layer after layer of its frozen surface. In the process, it will offer a firsthand look at the raw material that Earth and the other planets were built from when the solar system was formed.
Maybe some diminished portion of the comet will remain intact; maybe it will break apart and disperse entirely. Either way, the public unraveling of Comet ISON will be cause for celebration, not mourning. “Comet ISON is an extra-ordinarily rare object,” says Carey Lisse of Johns Hopkins University, who is coordinating an international observing campaign. “It isn’t just hyperbole. We are going to go to town on it. And we are going to learn a lot.”

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/nov/11-comet-ison