Comet ISON - getting closer.

[kreativebargains]

Getting closer to the Sun now, a mere 19,400,000 miles away and closing in at over 206,000 miles an hour or almost 100km a second. ISON is now out of our sight but has been tracked from space and is still in one piece. But apparently it has shrunk from three miles in diameter to about one. Less than 3 days for it to survive it's close encounter with the sun and then we might just get the best cosmic sight in a century.

More at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...own-week.html#

[Tiskets]

Just about to watch a Horizon programme on BBC2 that I missed the other day. I hope I can stay awake long enough to reach the end. As I am typing, there are some spectacular shots.

[darklisruthven]

I am hoping we get to see the comet soon!

[kreativebargains]

I am hoping we get to see the comet soon!

Early December it will be visible in the early morning just before sunrise and should get brighter as it gets closer. At it's closest on December 26th and then will remain visible until mid January. That is if it survives the encounter with the Sun. Maybe it should have sneaked past at night!

[Pink_Panther]

Getting closer to the Sun now, a mere 19,400,000 miles away and closing in at over 206,000 miles an hour or almost 100km a second. ISON is now out of our sight but has been tracked from space and is still in one piece. But apparently it has shrunk from three miles in diameter to about one. Less than 3 days for it to survive it's close encounter with the sun and then we might just get the best cosmic sight in a century.

More at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...own-week.html#

I thought it was supposed to be the size of Australia?

[RonOne]

Early December it will be visible in the early morning just before sunrise and should get brighter as it gets closer. At it's closest on December 26th and then will remain visible until mid January. That is if it survives the encounter with the Sun. Maybe it should have sneaked past at night!

Wow....the 26th December

Do you suppose our calenders are 3 years out,
and two score years and ten mean 2010

I navent any Myrrh or Frankincense,
but I have some 9ct solid Gold Rings in stock.......would they do ?

[kreativebargains]

I thought it was supposed to be the size of Australia?

It started out about 3 miles in diameter and could be down to about 1 mile in diameter now. Comets are generally quite small, but then tails can be a million miles long. But even at a mile in diameter it would hurt if it was to land on you. When you consider the Russian meteorite in February was only about 50 feet in diameter and injured over 1,000 it is big enough to do a lot of damage if it was on course to hit us. Luckily, it will only get to within 40 million miles or so, or rather unluckily for comet watchers as if it were closer it would be even more spectacular.

[kreativebargains]

Update:

Now travelling at an astonishing 330,000 mph and speeding up by the second and just 7.6 million miles from the sun and is now as bright as the brightest star (Sirius) and Hale Bopp at it's brightest, though not actually visible to the naked eye for a few days.

Not seen anything about it breaking up so hopefully the comet is still in one piece. Just over 18 hours to perihelion, the closest approach to the Sun so in about 24 hours or so we should know if we are going to see celestial fireworks or nothing. My fingers are firmly crossed for the fireworks.

[lakeleilani]

Mine are crossed too!

[kreativebargains]

475,000 miles an hour and increasing in speed by about 8 miles a second!

Only 3.6 million miles to the Sun so getting near to the danger point. When it gets to it's closest the temperature will be about 2700 degrees.

NASA have released a great Thanksgiving Day video that shows it heading towards the outbursts from the Sun.

http://www.space.com/23759-comet-iso...asa-video.html

More video now:
http://www.space.com/23752-best-yet-...sed-video.html