4 Meteor Showers and Comet Lovejoy
For the past few weeks you may have noticed meteors shooting across the sky. There is the Geminid meteor shower and three other smaller meteor showers in progress. Although with the bright moon, the dimmer meteors aren’t as easily seen. The Geminids started Dec 4 and end Dec 17. On Sat Dec 14, at their […]
ISON – In Memoriam
In Memoriam Submitted by Karl Battams on Mon, 12/02/2013 – 08:32 Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)Born 4.5 Billion BC, Fragmented Nov 28, 2013 (age 4.5-billion yrs old) “Born in a dusty and turbulent environment, comet ISON spent its early years being jostled and struck by siblings both large and small. Surviving a particularly violent […]
ISON ALIVE – the excitement continues
Saturday Nov 30, 2013 19:42 UTC : Bye Bye ISON? A “sublimated” Comet is now reduced to a cone of molecules (mostly H and O) being blasted as a cone away from the sun by the solar winds. I wonder if the Northern Lights will be affected over the next day or two (estimated time […]
SOHO Observes ISON tomorrow
Expect good images from SOHO starting Wednesday – tomorrow. ISON is expected to enter the LASCO C3 field-of-view at 2:00 UT on Wed, 11/27, and the C2 field-of-view at 13:00 UT on Thu, 11/28. ISON is expected to leave the C2 field-of-view at 23:00 UT on Thu, 11/28, and the C3 field-of-view at 23:00 UT […]
ISON Captured by SUN? Not necessarily
Sunday Nov. 24, 2013 : (Question to JPL) Dear Alan (Chamberlin) at JPL : Is this statement accurate? If not how would you reword it? Big day for ISON yesterday. I noticed today the eccentricity dropped below “1.00”. Does this mean NASA is now calculating it is no longer on a hyperbolic orbit heading out of the solar system, but […]
ISON Experiments – CIOC
At the Comet ISON Observing Campaign (CIOC) meeting in August 2013, some outstanding scientists led by Dr Mike Mumma of NASA Goddard Centre for Astrobiology, discuss their experiments for Nov/Dec 2013 : Mumma mentioned that their studies have a population of 26 Comets. They have already identified 24 molecules. They are interested in comparing Kuiper […]
Comet ISON – Material for Students
In celebration of this event (hyperbolic, sun-grazer) which occurs only once or twice a century, I have put together a FREE eBook called “COMET ISON”. It presents some unique perspectives which should give students a broader understanding of COMETS and especially these rarer HYPERBOLIC sun-grazing comets like ISON. In Summary, the material is freely offered […]
Log of Comet ISON Sightings
Cattle Point Urban Star Park, Oak Bay, Victoria, BC, Canada Sunday Nov. 24, 2013 : Big day for ISON yesterday. I noticed today the eccentricity dropped below 1. Does this mean NASA is now calculating it is no longer on a hyperbolic orbit heading out of the solar system, but is now on an elliptical path? See NASA […]
Stunning comet ISON photographed by amateur astronomer
Comet ISON close to perihelion on Thursday November 28th . Victoria observers frustrated by cloudy skies before sunrise (ESE) in early morning.
Paul Wiegert University of Western Ontario predicts possible Jan 12, 2014 meteors?
Veteran meteor researcher Paul Wiegert of the University of Western Ontario has been using a computer to model the trajectory of dust ejected by Comet ISON, and his findings suggest that an unusual meteor shower could be in the offing. “For several days around January 12, 2014, Earth will pass through a stream of fine-grained […]