For the next three days, a series of CMEs will sweep past Earth, delivering glancing blows to our planet's magnetic field. No single impact is expected to be strong, but the combined effect of multiple weak impacts could spark polar geomagnetic storms from Oct. 28th to Oct. 31st.
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This seems an old information and I almost dismissed it as true because ISON being a accompanied by 2 spaceships was debunked a few weeks ago. However there is an article that was piblished today (the link is at the bottom of my comment) which again summons the idea of ISON bot being just a comet. The videos below show again that NASA forged the information very well. I am still puzzled about everything but we shall see soon.
Sungrazing comets are a special class of comets that come very close to the sun at their nearest approach, a point called perihelion. To be considered a sungrazer, a comet needs to get within about 850,000 miles from the sun at perihelion. Many come even closer, even to within a few thousand miles.
Being so close to the sun is very hard on comets for many reasons. They are subjected to a lot of solar radiation which boils off their water or other volatiles. The physical push of the radiation and the solar wind also helps form the tails. And as they get closer to the sun, the comets experience extremely strong tidal forces, or gravitational stress. In this hostile environment, many sungrazers do not survive their trip around the sun. Although they don't actually crash into the solar surface, the sun is able to destroy them anyway.
Many sungrazing comets follow a similar orbit, called the Kreutz Path, and collectively belong to a population called the Kreutz Group. In fact, close to 85% of the sungrazers seen by the SOHO satellite are on this orbital highway. Scientists think one extremely large sungrazing comet broke up hundreds, or even thousands, of years ago, and the current comets on the Kreutz Path are the leftover fragments of it. As clumps of remnants make their way back around the sun, we experience a sharp increase in sungrazing comets, which appears to be going on now. Comet Lovejoy, which reached perihelion on December 15, 2011 is the best known recent Kreutz-group sungrazer. And so far, it is the only one that NASA's solar-observing fleet has seen survive its trip around the sun.
Comet ISON, an upcoming sungrazer with a perihelion of 730,000 miles on November 28, 2013, is not on the Kreutz Path. In fact, ISON's orbit suggests that it may gain enough momentum to escape the solar system entirely, and never return. Before it does so, it will pass within about 40 million miles from Earth on December 26th. Assuming it survives its trip around the sun.
...........What makes the issue even more mysterious is an alleged video of comet ISON that appears to show the nucleus being circled by two UFOs. The video is claimed to be from a Chinese satellite, however, the Chinese Space Agency does not contain the video on its website. Furthermore, the resolution is too clear for such a distant object suggesting the video has been forged. Why would someone go to the trouble to create a fake video of comet ISON comprising two cylindrical UFOs circling a nucleus? Was it to generate confusion over the true composition of comet ISON or to call attention to it being accompanied by UFOs?.............
One thing is clear so far, a Hubble image of comet ISON taken in April does appear to show that it comprises three objects making up its nucleus – two of which are highly symmetrical cylinder shaped. Could it be that the image is simply an overlay of three different time exposures as Hubble astronomers suggest? In this scenario favored by NASA, the most we can hope for is that ISON spectacularly expands to become the “comet of the century.” Alternatively, does Comet ISON comprise two UFOs accompanying its nucleus as depicted in the alleged Chinese satellite imagery, or is it a large biosphere accompanied by two escort ships? We will have to wait for the truth to emerge as Comet ISON makes its closest approach to the sun in November 2013. http://exopolitics.org/is-comet-ison...anied-by-ufos/
does Comet ISON comprise two UFOs accompanying its nucleus as depicted in the alleged Chinese satellite imagery, or is it a large biosphere accompanied by two escort ships?
Its CGI vid someone has made, probably to earn money on youtube from advertisements, and or for a laugh.
I try to wrap my brain around this and for some reason - I just can't seem to assimilate this info.:spinning:
It seems the 11/28 is the date for the strongest possibility of something drastic happening. Did I get that right?
Interesting, here in USA that's Thanksgiving - it is also the first day of Hanukkah.
Nothing drastic is going to happen,(not for us anyway) there is some speculation about whether it is one object or not, and whether it will survive the "slingshot" around the Sun, the only dates that are of interest are those when we should be able to get a good view of it.
Nothing drastic is going to happen,(not for us anyway) there is some speculation about whether it is one object or not, and whether it will survive the "slingshot" around the Sun, the only dates that are of interest are those when we should be able to get a good view of it.
Whew! . . Thanks, now I can continue with my Xmas plans.
Nothing drastic is going to happen,(not for us anyway) there is some speculation about whether it is one object or not, and whether it will survive the "slingshot" around the Sun, the only dates that are of interest are those when we should be able to get a good view of it.
This is just the perfect prediction Spiral, I totally agree with you, I just need reassurance.
This is interesting and informative article about ISON. The information below is very mainstream, all you need to know in terms of official info. I mean there is truth in it as it comes from "reliable scientific sources" and the one that is just a deception is left to those who question everything. There is a funny lighthearted quiz on this page to test your comet knowledge. It turned out I have a serous comet knowledge which is far from the truth but just says how difficult it is . There are also two short videos to point you at the right direction if you want to observe ISON with naked eye as it is visible now.
Potentially Dazzling Comet ISON Now Visible to Naked Eye After Outburst
Comet ISON lightens up, literally
Comet ISON is now in full outburst mode, becoming many times brighter over just the past few days. Astronomers measure the brightness of objects in the night sky as magnitude, in which the brighter an object is, the lower its magnitude number. The human eye can perceive objects as faint as
According to veteran comet observer, John Bortle, Comet ISON was shining only at magnitude +8.5 on Monday (Nov. 11) morning — more than six times too dim to be visible to the unaided eye. But by Wednesday morning, the comet’s brightness had increased three-fold brightening to +7.3. [8 Essential Facts About Comet ISON]
If that was a surprise, an even bigger one was waiting for Bortle on Thursday morning (Nov. 14).
"Ready to go at 4:45 a.m. but I couldn't figure out what the funny-looking, blotted, star that came into view was," Bortle said. "[Was my] seeing that bad? But, no, the 'blotted star' was, in fact, at the comet's position! Getting to the point, the little but intensely condensed, globular cluster-looking comet was a whopping magnitude 5.4 — two full magnitudes brighter than just 24 hours ago! This makes for a three magnitude total rise since my observation on Monday."
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In just 72 hours, Comet ISON increased nearly 16 times in brightness.
Carl Hergenrother, acting co-coordinator of the comet section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers, has confirmed Bortle's observations.
"ISON has dramatically brightened over the past few days," Hergenrother told SPACE.com via email. "The latest observations put the comet around magnitude 5.7 to 6.1 which is a 2+ magnitude increase from this weekend. My own observations from this morning in 10x50 and 30x125 binoculars show a nice 'lollipop' comet with a very condensed blue-green head and a long narrow tail. The tail was over 1 degree in length even in the 10x50s. The comet may continue to brighten as the outburst is still in its early stages."
Unmistakable comet outburst
Long Island amateur Dennis Wilde was also impressed by ISON’s appearance in the predawn sky Thursday morning.
Mercury with Comets ISON and Lovejoy Sky MapPin It An hour before sunrise on Monday morning, November 18, catch a sight of the elusive planet Mercury, with brightening Comets ISON and Lovejoy as a bonus.
Credit: Starry Night SoftwareView full size image
"ISON, while not as large as the full moon, was an impressive sight in the eyepiece," Wilde said. "The coma was compact with a very bright apparent nucleus, very bright green in color. The tail was very thin and bright near the coma and widened slightly as it extended out to almost 3.5 degrees as seen in the 15". It wasn't huge or extraordinarily bright but it was a great view nonetheless. I viewed the coma at up to 490x and it was uniformly dense and bright. There was no indication of the start of any breakup. After finding it with the telescope it was quite easy to pick out the coma with the [binoculars]."
This outburst is not completely unusual since ISON has demonstrated short "spurts" of brightening over the past few weeks, but they were quickly followed by abrupt slow-down in its brightening trend.
So will the current outburst persist until the comet arrives at the sun on Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 28)?
"Whether by chance we have caught the comet at the peak of the outburst is certainly debatable (to me rather improbable) and it may well still brighten further," Bortle said.
"The comet may continue to brighten as the outburst is still in its early stages," Hergenrother said. "Whether this outburst will be a short-lived event or the beginning of a more active phase is still to be seen."
This sudden upsurge in brightness is certainly very good for a comet that until now seemed to be running well behind in brightness predictions. It seems now that we can feel a little more optimistic about this enigmatic object putting on show for us later this month on into early December.
Infographic: Facts about Comet ISON, which could provide a spectacular display in late 2013.The deep-frozen Comet ISON could blaze spectacularly as it whips past the sun at Thanksgiving 2013. Learn all about Comet ISON's 2013 visit to the inner solar system in this SPACE.com infographic.
Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com contributor
Comet ISON was first discovered by Russian amateur astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok in September 2012. The comet is officially designated C/2012 S1 (ISON), with ISON standing for International Scientific Optical Network.
The comet is rapidly approaching its Nov. 28 perihelion and as a result it is becoming more and more difficult to observe low near the east-southeast horizon in the dawn sky. Still, observers with access to a clear horizon may be able to follow ISON for about another week.
Next Monday morning (Nov. 18), ISON will be passing close to the bright 1st magnitude star Spica in Virgo. Using the handle of the Big Dipper, sweep an arc to the brilliant orange star Arcturus. Then continue that arc on to Spica. Using binoculars, ISON should still be readily be visible as a fuzzy star with a short tail.
Will it still be visible to the unaided eye? Check it out for yourself!
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