Comet ISON has been destroyed

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Candlelight, Nov 28, 2013.

  1. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

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    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25143861

    Shame. Was hoping for the same view we had with Comet McNaught in 2007.
     
  2. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

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    Getting there -but slowly.
  3. Davros

    Davros Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I guess since it will now never be a danger to Earth I have to go with this being a good thing. [not that it would have hit us this time]
     
  4. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    :(

    Poor comet. I didn't get to see it due to snowstorms here.
     
  5. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

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    It was too low on the horizon for us to see (not that it would be invisible, but we ALWAYS have a band of cloud on the horizon where we are).

    Some people in Auckland got photos though.
     
  6. Fatal Einstein

    Fatal Einstein Cadet Newbie

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    I was hoping for the end of the world. How disappointing, now I'll have to go to work on Monday.
     
  7. Candlelight

    Candlelight Admiral Admiral

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    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25143861

    Here's hoping.
     
  8. rhubarbodendron

    rhubarbodendron Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Cheer up, everyone! Ison only hid. NASA and ESA re-discovered it. Here is the first pic of it outside the corona:

    [​IMG]

    source: http://www.br.de/themen/wissen/komet-ison-c2012-s1-114.html [in German]

    The trajectory didn't change much (see the video posted by trekkiedane) which indicates that there was no really significant loss of matter. Had it crumbled, the parts would now fly faster and in a much wider curve.*

    And that a huge snowball sheds a few lbs when brushing something really hot was to be expected.

    At any rate, those of us who haven't seen Ison yet get another chance in a few days, shortly before sunrise :)

    _______
    * faster because E = (m*v²) : 2 and since E is a constant, the velovity must rise when the mass gets less.

    And wider because in a light object the centripetal force would work less well than in a heavy one Fcent. = (m*v²) : r

    (admittedly, that last formula is only an approximation. It is true only in very short time frames. But the basic tendency is the same and a single day is damned short in cosmic dimensions)
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2013
  9. trekkiedane

    trekkiedane Admiral Admiral

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  10. rhubarbodendron

    rhubarbodendron Vice Admiral Admiral

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    German science news claim that it suffered severe damage but that there must still be some pretty massive thing sticking in the gas/dust cloud. Interestingly, it does not shed much mass anymore (which means that most of its volatile matter must have gotten pulled away by the sun. I think we can assume that this was the ice and steam surrounding the comet and that what's left now is a solid stone core.)

    The surrounding gas and dust is still too thick to look through it at the core. The leftovers of the comet will not be visible to the naked eye anymore (a pity!) and it's constantly getting darker but at least it still flies on.
    I think technically it's now something between a comet and an asteroid.

    Source: http://www.ndr.de/regional/ison101.html (in German)
     
  11. Australis

    Australis Writer - Australis Admiral

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    Sorry, little dim, if we can see it, will it be in the morning or evening sky?
     
  12. rhubarbodendron

    rhubarbodendron Vice Admiral Admiral

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  13. Australis

    Australis Writer - Australis Admiral

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    Close enough to Sydney, Australia, as to make no difference.

    I remember when I was a kid seeing Comet Bennett in 1970, that was spectacular, a clear autumn moring in outback Australia. I want to relive that.
     
  14. rhubarbodendron

    rhubarbodendron Vice Admiral Admiral

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  15. Australis

    Australis Writer - Australis Admiral

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    Thanks. No telescope, but I'll rub along.
     
  16. Locutus of Bored

    Locutus of Bored Yo, Dawg! I Heard You Like Avatars... In Memoriam

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    And... now it's destroyed again. This comet is like the Black Knight. "Tis but a scratch! Have at you!"

    Personally, I think the Sun is being profiled as the killer because it's a G-type Main-Sequence Star, and that another "Star" is more likely the real killer:

    [​IMG]
     
  17. rhubarbodendron

    rhubarbodendron Vice Admiral Admiral

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    LOL! Great minds! I was just going to say that the comet is a bit like Obi Wan: it duels, sheds its cloak and dissolves. Perhaps to return unexpectedly in a different form.

    Was the tail somewhere on our planet's plane? Any chance we might fly through it? With a little luck there could at least be a few meteorites.


    What puzzles me thoroughly is the trajectory. I mean, look at the pic: there was not much of a change of course after the encounter. The new course was very close to what one would expect after an undamaged swing-by.
    That would indicate only a small loss of mass. So, how can the big rest of that mass suddenly vanish?
    Had it split up into several bits, we'd have seen it, wouldn't we? There would be several fragments fanning out.
    If it really got destroyed, it would have to have crumbled into dust very suddenly. We would have seen an explosion and there appears to have been none.
    But what else could cause such a sudden disruption?

    Could it possibly have crashed into something we didn't notice? A tiny asteroid perhaps, or some piece of space junk?
     
  18. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    I want my money back...
     
  19. Owain Taggart

    Owain Taggart Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The discovery channel a few days ago ran a special that pretty much summed things up as far as how hyped the comet was. They called it 'The Hunt for the Supercomet." While interesting, it was way overblown in how important the comet was, but in the end they did admit how much of a disappointment the comet was. Yeah, so more like Superdud.

    The next comet already proposes to be more interesting. Keep an eye out for Lovejoy.
     
  20. rhubarbodendron

    rhubarbodendron Vice Admiral Admiral

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    that seems to be a general trend with discovery channel films these least years. Very lurid headlines and then no real contents. :( A sign of the times, propably *sigh*

    Lovejoy sounds familiar. Is that a periodic comet? I seem to recall haveing seen that one a few years ago. Or am I confusing it with a similarly named one?