Comet Ison | Vital Football

Comet Ison

thefacehead

Vital Football Hero
The most spectacular comet of the century, millennium...... so far anyway, is hurtling toward the sun where it will graze past on the 28th of November before hurtling back out of the Solar System and within 40'000'000 miles of our little planet, supposedly at it's closet on Boxing day.

Today I have read that it has finally become visible to the naked eye and being the space nerd that I am, I'm quite the excited child. It should be visible through November and into the new year.

Anyhow, anyone who spots it (unlikely to see it yet in Brum, if you live there with your light pollution) let us know and maybe upload some nice pictures.

Prizes for the best picture :14:
 
Been watching a lot on this face dude, Ison has turned green for ages after it interacted with Mars amazing also i learnt comet's are not just dirty snowballs they contain plasma from the kinetic energy from the pieces of planet that got broken up and had collisions with other parts of the planet so they are basically like electric balls covered by rock and ice,

I will be keeping a look out the best i can depends if my eyes allow me lol, i watched a few doc's saying it could and has been affecting our weather seeing that phillipino weather disastor it does make you wonder?
 
It's a clear night here in the country outside of Poole, so I'll take a look when I take my 50 yards stroll to my local.
 
I remember Haley's Comet coming past when I was in primary school. The teachers and my parents were really trying to hype it up but I didn't give a shit. I could have stayed up to see it but I went to bed instead.

I love physics and if I could do it all again I would have found somewhere else to live so I could have concentrated in school and stuck with physics.

Still, astronomy doesn't float my boat.
 
ClivetheVillan - 15/11/2013 18:48

Been watching a lot on this face dude, Ison has turned green for ages after it interacted with Mars amazing also i learnt comet's are not just dirty snowballs they contain plasma from the kinetic energy from the pieces of planet that got broken up and had collisions with other parts of the planet so they are basically like electric balls covered by rock and ice,

I will be keeping a look out the best i can depends if my eyes allow me lol, i watched a few doc's saying it could and has been affecting our weather seeing that phillipino weather disastor it does make you wonder?

I love space stuff Clive. It's so cloudy in Cornwall everyday ARTM, so I haven't had a chance to even look for it yet.

Plenty of time yet mind :14:
 
If anyone is interested the comet is visible in the morning full details on here -

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11/14/how-best-to-see-comet-ison-viewing-guide-_n_4272629.html
 
I will try and look for this on my way back from working shifts i hope i see something
 
You won't see much yet, just a faint dot. You have to look to the South East sometime before sunrise. It will get brighter as the days pass and hopefully won't break up it passes the sun (going a mind boggling 450'000 miles an hour).

It should pass the Earth about 40'000'000 miles away (on Boxing Day), which sounds a lot but in space terms is only the next block over!
 
An Horizon special about Comet Ison is on BBC 2 tonight at 9:15 if anyone is interested.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25052236
 
A very informative program it is too. Thanks facehead. It covers so much about Comets, formation of Planets and even the formation of life from chemical ellements. It's presented very well.
 
I enjoyed it too Heath, as you say a very balanced look at the formation of the planets etc, let's just hope it survives the sun's heat.

 
HeathfieldRoad1874 - 24/11/2013 12:58

Lol. I suppose it is my duty to point put it isn't a Star, but more importantly, I'm not sure we can find 3 Wise Men!!!

Surely surely there must be wise men somewhere in the universe. There is Ernie Wise-hmm oh sorry he's dead :10:
 
HeathfieldRoad1874 - 24/11/2013 12:58

Lol. I suppose it is my duty to point put it isn't a Star, but more importantly, I'm not sure we can find 3 Wise Men!!!

Surely surely there must be wise men somewhere in the universe. There is Ernie Wise-hmm oh sorry he's dead :10
 
Sadly it seems that like Icarus, Comet ISON flew too close to the Sun, it has evidently been destroyed by the intense heat and will not now light up the skies.

Plenty more Comets in the sky.
 
Gutted this ISON broke up, poor Fear will be proper pizzed off when he realises this, we thoguht this was the earth destroyer finally to put all us nutters out of our misery ffs, oh well NEEEEEXT! ;)