Get used to heaing the name "ISON"! Here are the details:
http://www.astronomy.com/News-Observing ... 20sky.aspx
New Comet will Light Up the Night Sky!
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Tom
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Christopher K.
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Re: New Comet will Light Up the Night Sky!
Although estimates vary, as can be expected with over a year to go, many are stating this comet will outshine Venus at its brightest. If conditions are right, it may reach a magnitude comparable to that of the Full Moon--meaning it will be a daylight comet! The designation is C/2012 S1.
Here's what we know at this point...
*The discovery occurred on Friday by Artyom Novichonok and Vitali Nevski at ISON-Kislovodsk Observatory in Russia.
*Early images were then found via the Mount Lemon Survey and PanSTARRS 1.
*Yesterday the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams posted a maximum brightness for ISON of -13.1 on 28 November of next year--Thanksgiving Day.
*Around 8 January 2014, Comet ISON will be two degrees from Polaris. This suggests that for at least three or four twenty-four hour periods it will be both a night object and (if bright enough) a day object.
In addition to all that the dust tail "might be among the longest ever recorded", says J.E. Bortle of New York. Still, caution is definitely suggested; there have been disappointments in the recent past. Astronomy's Michael Bakich is optimistic, saying ISON "probably will become the brightest comet anyone alive has ever seen".
Gary Kronk's page:
http://www.cometography.com/lcomets/2012s1.html
Here's what we know at this point...
*The discovery occurred on Friday by Artyom Novichonok and Vitali Nevski at ISON-Kislovodsk Observatory in Russia.
*Early images were then found via the Mount Lemon Survey and PanSTARRS 1.
*Yesterday the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams posted a maximum brightness for ISON of -13.1 on 28 November of next year--Thanksgiving Day.
*Around 8 January 2014, Comet ISON will be two degrees from Polaris. This suggests that for at least three or four twenty-four hour periods it will be both a night object and (if bright enough) a day object.
In addition to all that the dust tail "might be among the longest ever recorded", says J.E. Bortle of New York. Still, caution is definitely suggested; there have been disappointments in the recent past. Astronomy's Michael Bakich is optimistic, saying ISON "probably will become the brightest comet anyone alive has ever seen".
Gary Kronk's page:
http://www.cometography.com/lcomets/2012s1.html