Thursday, November 28, 2013

ISON updates

Comet ISON is brightening rapidly as it plunges into the sun's atmosphere. At closest approach around 1:45 p.m. EST (18:45 UT) on Nov. 28th, the comet will be little more than a million kilometers above the sun's fiery surface. Temperatures around ISON's icy nucleus could rise as high as 5000 deg C.  No one knows if it can survive that kind of baking.

Researchers have been wondering what might happen if a CME strikes Comet ISON. They might find out before the day is over. As the movie shows, CMEs are billowing away from the sun in all directions. Avoiding a collision will become increasingly difficult as the comet moves closer to active regions on the sun's surface.

During the hours around closest approach, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will take high-resolution pictures of the comet flying through the sun's atmosphere. This diagram illustrates the sequence of events:



Usually, SDO points straight at the sun. In this case, however, the observatory is being offset and moved three times to track the speeding comet. SDO images of sungrazing Comet Lovejoy in Dec. 2011 were dramatic. Comet ISON could be even better.

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