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Science is Drokking Fantastic Because...

Started by The Legendary Shark, 21 July, 2011, 11:05:57 PM

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O Lucky Stevie!

"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"

Definitely Not Mister Pops

You may quote me on that.

Dandontdare

Comet ISON is currently grazing the sun's corona - if it doesn't disintegrate (which is a strong possibility), it's likely to be one of the most spectacular comets visible when it gets closer to Earth.

Proudhuff

Quote from: Dandontdare on 28 November, 2013, 10:40:44 AM
Comet ISON is currently grazing the sun's corona - if it doesn't disintegrate (which is a strong possibility), it's likely to be one of the most spectacular comets visible when it gets closer to Earth.

Its Defoe all over again
DDT did a job on me

Greg M.

Quote from: Proudhuff on 28 November, 2013, 04:28:45 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 28 November, 2013, 10:40:44 AM
Comet ISON is currently grazing the sun's corona - if it doesn't disintegrate (which is a strong possibility), it's likely to be one of the most spectacular comets visible when it gets closer to Earth.

Its Defoe all over again

I expect it'll turn out more like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9O-0B6OC0E

O Lucky Stevie!

Quote from: Dandontdare on 28 November, 2013, 10:40:44 AM
Comet ISON is currently grazing the sun's corona - if it doesn't disintegrate (which is a strong possibility), it's likely to be one of the most spectacular comets visible when it gets closer to Earth.

Every now & again tip top US hard SF author Geoffrey A. Landis* posts to Facebook something relating to his day job, & as of 5 hours ago he doesn't appear to be very optimistic about ISON's fate:

Quote

It looks like Comet ISON did not survive its approach to the sun. Some dust and clouds of bright material seems to be emerging, but the nucleus of the comet itself seems to be gone.
This is sad-- it came so far, slowly dropping into the sun for ten thousand years, and in an hour it disintegrated.



*a permanent position at the NASA John Glenn Research Center where he does research on planetary exploration, solar energy & interstellar propulsion.
"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"

TordelBack

#741
From my own frantic trawling of various mission-feeds, live-blogs and tweeters, I'm not sure ISON's nucleus is as complete destroyed as it may seem.  Even so this has been completely fascinating - why should a first-time comet necessarily make it round the sun?  The ones we're familiar with tend to be those on a relatively stable trajectory, in other words the long-term survivors;  ISON's journey is possibly the more typical story. 

OTOH, I've been charging outside hours before dawn for the last 3 weeks in the vague hopes that my heavily-repaired reflector would give me a look, but it's been a consistent pattern of cloud or mist here every morning, so I was counting on getting to see ISON on the return trip. Fingers crossed there's still something to see.  Otherwise, it's going to be a long wait for Siding Spring's flyby of Mars in October next year.

Definitely Not Mister Pops

You may quote me on that.

O Lucky Stevie!

Scientists? What do they know, huh?

Comet ISON sweeps near sun, shows signs of life




Quote

Karl Battams, a comet scientist for the Naval Research Laboratory, said it is believed some parts of ISON's nucleus survived perihelion.

"It now looks like some chunk of ISON's nucleus has indeed made it through the solar corona, and re-emerged," he said. "It's throwing off dust and (probably) gas, but we don't know how long it can sustain that."


"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"


O Lucky Stevie!

"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"

TordelBack

This has to be one of the most exciting projects in the history of palaeoanthropology, and a brave new model for how these things can be done in the contemporary world: Rising Star.  Fair play to Nat Geo on this one.

The hairs stand up on the back of my neck with every update, although that may partly be because of similarities to this:


The Legendary Shark

Open source science - brilliant! Surely this is what the interweb is for.

[move]~~~^~~~~~~~[/move]





O Lucky Stevie!

"We'll send all these nasty words to Aunt Jane. Don't you think that would be fun?"