Comets & Meteors

[Gary Oak]

If this comet is going to be brighter than the moon then could this be the Nibiru that was refered to in some ancient myth ? If it is then I can't see how it could be populated with some advanced alien civilisation,


2013

[Blue Frost]

Comets are not a friendly place for life since their trips are full of dangers, and jets of gasses bursting from the when they round the sun.
I doubt life is on any unless in frozen form. and very very small, and frozen.
we have a close one coming in 2040, it's called AG5, it has a very high chance of impact, but lets hope it don't .

[Gary Oak]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... rough.html

Well this isn't a comet but it is a meteorite and that is close enough for me. Take a look at these pictures and the video

[Blue Frost]

They said it could be heard around the world, thought I did here it .

[Gary Oak]

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/20 ... 91882.html

Yet another one. They seem quite frequent now. I read the newspapers for decdes without hearing about any meteors lighting up the sky. I wonder if the earth hasn't wandered into an area where there are now more meteors

[video][/video]

[Blue Frost]

Cool, but maybe they are parts of the larger ones that have past recently.
They fall all the time, but we have had large ones lately.

[Gary Oak]

Could this comet be the infamous Nibiru ? I don't believe that any planets have the kind of orbit that this Nibiru is supposed to have but....comets do.

Astronomers Gearing Up For Possible 'Comet Of The Century'

http://www.foxnews.com

Astronomers are already getting set for the arrival of Comet ISON, which may become one of the brightest comets ever seen when it cruises through the inner solar system this fall.

NASA has brought together a small team of experts to organize an observing campaign for Comet ISON, which could potentially shine as brightly as the moon when it makes its closest pass by the sun in late November if the most optimistic scenarios play out.

Coordinating the efforts of observatories on the ground and in space should help wring as much quality science as possible out of the comet's solar flyby, Comet ISON Observing Campaign (CIOC) officials said.

"It's a rare opportunity that we've got such a long heads-up time, so we actually have time to organize a campaign like this," said Karl Battams, a scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Lab in Washington and a member of the eight-person CIOC Team. "There's a lot of new science that we could get from this."

Russian amateur astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok discovered Comet ISON in September 2012 after poring over photographs taken by a telescope run by the International Scientific Optical Network. Hence the comet's official name, which is C/2012 S1 (ISON).

ISON is a sungrazing comet, meaning its long, looping path through space takes it extremely close to our star. Indeed, ISON is forecast to zoom just 680,000 miles above the solar surface on its closest approach, which will take place on Nov. 28.

Comet ISON could put on a spectacular show around this time, experts say, potentially glowing so brightly that it's visible in the daytime sky. (The comet poses no impact threat to Earth.)

Skywatchers aren't the only people looking forward to the icy wanderer's solar encounter. Astronomers are excited as well, for ISON's flyby could give them a rare window into comet composition.

"Sungrazers experience the most intense thermal and gravitational stresses of any comet. There's a lot of sublimation of material that doesn't normally sublimate," Battams told SPACE.com. "Once [ISON] gets really close in to the sun, then we could start to see some of the composition that you wouldn't normally get."

So Battams and his colleagues have contacted major ground-based observatories, raising awareness of the comet's flyby and encouraging them to solicit ISON-observing proposals. The response has been warm, with telescope operators typically voicing enthusiasm about the campaign, Battams said.

The CIOC crew has also reached out to some spacecraft mission teams, asking them to consider taking a look at the comet at some point. And a number of them are already on board.

"Observing campaigns are planned by the SOHO, STEREO and SDO solar missions; by Spitzer, Chandra and Hubble space telescopes; and by the Deep Impact, JUNO, Mercury MESSENGER, Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter missions," the CIOC website states.

"Other missions at or on Mars are looking into observing ISON, as are a handful of other NASA Planetary missions. We welcome and encourage our international partners to contact us and join in the fun!"

In fact, Deep Impact has already begun its ISON work. The NASA probe snapped its first photos of the comet in January.

Sizzle or fizzle?
There's no guarantee that ISON will live up to the hype; it may fall apart before even making its closest solar approach. Comets are notoriously unpredictable and sometimes fizzle out despite great expectations, as Comet Kahoutek did in 1973.

The wild-card factor with ISON is especially high, Battams said, since this is apparently the comet's first trip through the inner solar system from the distant, icy Oort cloud.

Astronomers and skywatchers probably won't get a real sense of how the comet is going to behave until early August, when water ice should start sublimating in earnest, he added.

But the CIOC Team is proceeding as if Comet ISON will put on a dazzling show, because that's the scientifically prudent thing to do.

"We have to go forward with optimism and prepare for something really special, something really spectacular, and hope that it happens," Battams said. "If it does, we're absolutely going to be in place to take an unprecedented and comprehensive set of observations of the comet."

[Blue Frost]

It will be neat to see it being as bright as they say. The big danger of comets that are not so called near earth is when they heat up the jets of gasses can move them in other directions in slightly different ones.
SO one flies by, but when back around it's closer, or a big boom someplace.

[Gary Oak]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/23/us/east-c ... ?hpt=hp_t2

Here is yet another one. I read the newspaper everyday for decades and this never used to happen. Now t is regularly occurring. I think that we may very well be going to get hit by a big one...not that I am worrying about it

[Blue Frost]

Well what a lot of it is is we can see it better now with all the eyes in the sky, no telling what has almost hit us the last few hundred years.
The big issue now is the ones coming from the Suns direction, they are really hard to see coming even with the best we have.

[Gary Oak]

http://investmentwatchblog.com/video-ar ... g-4212013/

yet another one

[Blue Frost]

That was one of the basket ball size ones most likely, not so big but sure is a nice firework.

[Gary Oak]

http://www.universetoday.com/101654/met ... nnecticut/

[Blue Frost]

I used to have a meteor I found in a field, but loaned it to my aunt, and never saw it again .
She lost a fossil fish, and fern I had also .
The Meteor was worth like $500 from what I was told.

[Gary Oak]

I have read that this comet Ison is supposed to be as bright or even brighter than the moon. could that be true ?

Hubble Gets First Glimpse of Possible

[Gary Oak]

With this bright comet coincidentally coming into view on this Jewish holiday does make me wonder if it isn't an omen

Another Sign In The Heaven? "Comet Of The Century" To Light Up Heavens On Hanukkah

http://news.yahoo.com/

All eyes on the sky that can do so will be pointing toward Comet ISON soon, as a massive international observing campaign gets underway to watch what could become the "comet of the century," scientists say.

Comet ISON was discovered in September 2012, and is due to swoop in close to the sun in November. When it does, it may become as bright as the full moon, visible to the naked eye even in daylight. Or, it may not.

What will happen to Comet ISON is an open question to scientists, who hope to learn more about what causes certain comets to flare brightlyand others to fizzle out and evaporate under the sun's radiation.

Uncertain fate

"We don't have anything to directly compare to ISON," astronomer Matthew Knight of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz., said Thursday here at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory during a two-day workshop on observing ISON. Based on historical records, he said, very large comets tend to survive their encounters with the sun, while smaller ones evaporate or break into pieces under the harsh solar radiation. Comet ISON is a mid-sized comet, and its fate is very uncertain.

ISON is thought to originate in the Oort cloud, a large spherical cloud of small planetary fragments that is thought to surround the sun and extend up to a light-year out. The comet was first discovered in September of 2012, and belongs to a class of bodies called sungrazing comets that skim in close to the sun's atmosphere.

Under the banner of a coordinated observing program called the NASA Comet ISON Observing Campaign, dozens of observatories on the ground, in space, and even on sounding rockets and high-altitude balloons, will watch the comet's progress toward the sun this fall.

Starting at Mars

One of the first major series of observations will be taken from orbit around Mars, which will have a view of ISON as it moves toward the inner solar system. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), plans to snap photos of ISON on Aug. 20, when the comet makes its closest approach to the Red Planet.

"The Aug. 20 observations might give you all an early indication of just how bright the comet has become, at least at this time and place," said Richard Zurek, chief scientist of the Mars Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

In addition to MRO, NASA's Mars rovers Curiosity and Opportunity will try to take photos of Comet ISON as it appears in the Martian sky overhead.

After ISON zooms by Mars, it will soon approach Mercury, the innermost planet in the solar system. There, NASA's Messenger probe orbiting the tiny planet will make observations of the comet.

And finally, as it nears the sun, three solar observatories will switch into high gear mode to watch ISON rendezvous with our star, where it will make its closest approach on Nov. 28. NASA's SOHO (Solar & Heliospheric Observatory), STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) and SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) spacecraft will all turn their sights on the possible "comet of the century."

Observing throughout the spectrum

Space telescopes that specialize in observing through certain wavelengths of light will each have their special roles to play in the campaign. NASA's Swift satellite will photograph ISON in gamma-ray light, while the Spitzer Space Telescope will observe in infrared light and the Chandra Observatory will look in X-rays.

Not to be outdone, dozens of telescopes on the ground will also contribute to observations of Comet ISON, including the Lowell Observatory, the Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico, and the Submillimeter Array in Hawaii, just to name a few.

This coordinated effort will help scientists catch ISON in action, as its transformation during its close encounter with the sun could be rapid.

"ISON isn't up for very long in any one area

[Blue Frost]

Many holidays, and festivals in pagan past was around the time of a comet , or stellar event, who's to say this one wasn't started with a comet, maybe this same one.

[Gary Oak]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/baseball-sized ... 47817.html

Here is yet another one. They do seem to be a regular occurance now

[Blue Frost]

That's no big deal, we get a few of those a year around the country.
The one in Russia is more rear, it was pretty big.
have you read about the solar winds yet, they are blowing our way right now

[Gary Oak]

I have never heard of this happening before

..Surprise! Near-Earth Asteroid Is Actually 'Sopping Wet' Comet
By by Elizabeth Howell, SPACE.com Contributor | SPACE.com