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Comet ISON update!

JB80

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stevend

stevend

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I have just finished a 5am session looking at Jupiter, Mars, the Moon and ISON. The early morning skies are so good, and as Andrew stated the last quarter moon is a lovely sight. I got great views of Jupiter by now overhead, its moons give you great targets to check the EP is in exact focus and the bands were very clear. I could not see the GRS though despite trying very hard, limitations of scope and/or my eyeballs.

ISON appeared as a star. I checked I had it by using Stellarium and drawing a little chart before going out showing positions of nearby stars and their brightness. So no tail visible with my equipment, larger scopes may fair better but I was not expecting anything just yet - just taking advantage of rare clear skies and great conditions.

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Special K

Special K

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I have just finished a 5am session looking at Jupiter, Mars, the Moon and ISON. The early morning skies are so good, and as Andrew stated the last quarter moon is a lovely sight. I got great views of Jupiter by now overhead, its moons give you great targets to check the EP is in exact focus and the bands were very clear. I could not see the GRS though despite trying very hard, limitations of scope and/or my eyeballs.

ISON appeared as a star. I checked I had it by using Stellarium and drawing a little chart before going out showing positions of nearby stars and their brightness. So no tail visible with my equipment, larger scopes may fair better but I was not expecting anything just yet - just taking advantage of rare clear skies and great conditions.

We're we in the same back yard?! I had nearly the same session. I was looking for a tail (in the hopes of being wowed) but sadly no luck. Im not 100% sure that I'm on target either so need to have another go at it. Mars was way cool, as were Jupiter, Betelgeuse, and M42. Great start to the day!

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stevend

stevend

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We're we in the same back yard?! I had nearly the same session. I was looking for a tail (in the hopes of being wowed) but sadly no luck. Im not 100% sure that I'm on target either so need to have another go at it. Mars was way cool, as were Jupiter, Betelgeuse, and M42. Great start to the day!

Agreed, Mars was very good as well. Orion was 'out the front', I put the scope up near the back door on the patio as Orion is a winter evening target. My main objective was finding ISON but seeing Mars, the Moon and Jupiter so clear and bright.. they were not be missed.

I found ISON by entering NGC 3526 on the GOTO and then star hopping via chi Leo. It was a shame that time was short as I would have liked to have spent longer exploring Leo.

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stevend

stevend

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I want to try and get a first ever look at Mars and attempt ison.

Is Mars very big can you see much detail or does it just look like a red star as it's quite far away this year until 2018 if I'm correct ?

A browny red disc is how I would describe it, not much detail but I did not spend much time looking at it, I just used it to setup up the Goto (that was hardly used as it happens). Finding ISON and looking at the moon and Jupiter (in particular) used up my available time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
asset189

asset189

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Have to say from the casual observers point of view , taking into account all the hype , ison is Rubbish so far! Ive seen a few comets over the years from as far back as Halley in 1980,s and so far ison has not come close as a visual spectical with a pair of small bins . Lovejoy seems to be developing far better.

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Special K

Special K

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I just spotted Lovejoy, C/2012 X1 (LINEAR) and ISON, and have to say Lovejoy does steal the show so far. ISON has been hyped up to such an extent that it could really only disappoint. Having said that, it could still surprise us in December

Totally agree with Lovejoy, Michael!  I just saw it this morning for the first time.  Have had a hunt for ISON several times and tried the bins this morning.  Not a sausage.  In comparison, I could easily spot Lovejoy with my 7x22 toy zoom bins! 

Even if ISON reached Lovejoy magnitude, I'd be satisfied, despite the hype.  Ah well, these things just cannot be predicted.

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goodricke1

goodricke1

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From the Mailing list...:

This is the early phase of the outburst as the dust is still close to the nucleus and we should still expect a large increase of the magnitude and the coma diameter if more dust is released in the coming days.
The comet will become rapidly visible naked eye if the outburst last a few more days !

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MKHACHFE

MKHACHFE

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Can i ask, ISON is very very low in the sky at the moment from the UK, will it get higher earlier as the days go on or will we keep having to get up at 5am? I was kind of hoping to show my parents (assuming it survives of course).

Sadly, i live in Central London and i cant even see Lovejoy when its right overhead...i could barely find Leo's smaller stars in order to navigate...very sad. So im REALLY relying on ISON getting super bright...COME ON ISON!!

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astronymonkey

astronymonkey

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As it nears the sun it will brighten but will be fighting the twilight, but with decent outbursts it may be visible as a naked eye object just before sunrise by this time next week.

id catch it now though as it might not make it round the sun. If it does though then it will head north in the sky but will dime quickly. With this one I feel we are going to have a small window of maybe a day or less when it will be bright and the lucky ones will catch it at just the right time.

cheers

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MKHACHFE

MKHACHFE

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Ok, great. That's what I was asking about, it's position (assuming it survives) in the sky after perihelion. I've been trying, and will continue to try, to see it all this week, but the building next to my balcony has 3 huge security lights on all night which seriously affect my viewing. Imagine having a hig floodlight on to your right constantly...as I said, seeing Leo's secondary stars was tough last night, though I think it was slightly hazy too...

I'll try again this morning...I remember hale-bopp and it was incredible.

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Novarius

Novarius

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Great that it brightens up just as the cloud rolls in and covers the UK for the next few days, thank you Earth and thank you ISON for being so very considererate. Fingers crossed for Monday 18th Nov, probably the last chance to see this weather wise, it will not survive the trip around the Sun, too close and too small.

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Nogbad

Nogbad

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Looking like clear skies tonight here in Scotlandshire (although why I believe the BBC I'm not sure) so I guess tonight/early morning is the night  if I am to see this comet if it doesn't survive. If it survives presumably we will get quite a show in December now it has decided to brighten up.

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hukadarn

hukadarn

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Evidences of ISON fragmentation !

"Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director: Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University; 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA 02138; U.S.A.
e-mail: cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network

COMET C/2012 S1 (ISON)
H. Boehnhardt, C. Tubiana, N. Oklay, and J. B. Vincent, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau; and U. Hopp, C. Ries,M. Schmidt, A. Riffeser, and C. Goessl, Astronomical Institute, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, report the detection of coma wings in Laplace-filter-processed CCD exposures of comet C/2012 S1 obtained with the 0.4-m telescope of the Mt. Wendelstein Observatory on Nov. 14.16-14.21 and 16.16-16.21 UT. The arclet-like wings appeared in opposite direction from the nucleus at position angles 15 and 195 deg on Nov. 14 and at p.a. 25 and 205 deg on Nov. 16. The coma wings extended straight from the nucleus for about 4700 km on Nov. 14 and 13500 km on Nov. 16 on either side of the extended radius vector and continued in streamers of the plasma tail. No coma wings were found in similar exposures obtained on Nov. 13. The coma wings suggest the presence of two or more sub-nuclei with individual expanding atmospheres in the overall cometary coma and may indicate recent nucleus splitting in the comet."

 

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hukadarn

hukadarn

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Thanks for the heads up hukdarn. This reminds me of watching England in the World Cup.... :D

Maybe playing against Brazil in Cup final  :laugh:

I saw the images of these "wings" in the coma of the ISON, they were presented two days ago in the National Encounter of Astronomy occurring in Brazil .

They were very similar to those presented by the comet 2001 A2 (LINEAR), image below, but not occasioned the "extra tails" on both sides.

asas.jpg

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hukadarn

hukadarn

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I do not know what date is this photo of ISON but despite being different from what I saw it seems to demonstrate the "tails" in both sides to the nucleus, may already be a result of this fragmentation effect resembling even more the ISON with the Linear image.

BZOm7GWCAAADRQa.jpg
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