Spectacular Comet ISON Due November 2013

 

The year 2013 is projected to have two major comets passing through. The largest will be during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Joe Rao, a columnist for SPACE.com, reported on the Comet ISON. He wrote the comet was originally reported by two Russians, Vitalli Nevski and Artyom Novichonok. The official name of the comet is C/2012 S1.

Dates of the highest visiblity will be around 28 November, 2013. Weather permitting, we'll have some time to rest after all that good holiday food and become avid sky watchers.  If not seen that weekend, don't dispair. The comet will be visible to us without a telescope until the end of January 2014.

There is a projection that Comet ISON will become 15-times brighter than the Moon. It will become visible during the day for a short time. Let's hope that projection is correct.  I would so enjoy having the opportunity to watch another bright comet progress through our night sky. I look forward to some great photo opps.

Rao wrote that this comet, when discovered, had a magnitude of 18.8.  It will be most brilliant when at perihelion. Perihelion is when the comet will be closest to the Sun.  At that time, it is expected to have a magnitude of -16. (The smaller the number, the more brilliant the object.) Comet ISON is expected to travel within 800,000 miles of the Sun.

This event may excite others to learn more about astronomy.  If we're lucky, this comet will become so bright it will overshadow other comets we have seen during our lifetime.

If you wish to read more about the Comet ISON, check out these links:

 

The Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9567598/Coming-to-the-night-sky-the-comet-fifteen-times-brighter-than-the-moon.html

Space.com: http://www.space.com/17762-newfound-comet-dazzling-2013-display-c2012s1.html

Astronomy Now: http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/