Comet ISON May Be Disintegrating

I hope this is not the real ison mars.jpl.nasa.gov... if its the sun then why are there stars seen.
Bad link try this. mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

reply to post by symptomoftheuniverse

I hope this is not the real ison

It isn't. But why do you hope that it is not?

reply to post by symptomoftheuniverse

I hope this is not the real ison

It isn't. But why do you hope that it is not?

BTW, December last year:
mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

reply to post by Phage


It looks like a planet/white dwarf. Please tell me its the sun.

symptomoftheuniverse
if its the sun

Yep, its definetely the sun.
Its been imaged before. Do a google image search for
mastcam sun
and you'll even see times where they've grabbed a shot of phobos passing in front of the sun.

Furthermore, you can also see by the times that the images were taken on sol406
07:49:56 UTC - daytime photo
08:39:08 UTC - two of these sun photos
08:41:15 UTC - daytime photo
So, they had enough time to point the camera up, put a dark filter in place, take 2 shots, then go back to whatever it was they were doing beforehand.

symptomoftheuniverse
then why are there stars seen.

The sun is dimmer at mars.

reply to post by alfa1


The stars must be tiny holes in the filter. You would not see stars in the daytime,espeicially with a filter on.

symptomoftheuniverse
The stars must be tiny holes in the filter. You would not see stars in the daytime,espeicially with a filter on.

Yeah, it worried me even as I typed it go and spend some time with solarium, to see if I could match the dots in the image with the location of the stars as they should be on the 27th.

I cant get anything to match.
So yeah, some kind of imperfection in the optical system. Maybe just some noisy pixels on the CCD, since its not like they took the time to get a dark frame.

Posted by Kevin Heider (an experienced amateur astronomer):

"There is no reason to think ISON is actively disintegrating at this time. It is common for Oort Cloud comets to be 1 or 2 magnitudes below original projections. ISON is now magnitude 11. I will wait until someone images the comet disintegrating before claiming it will for certain. It is probably a coin toss. The only things special about ISON is that it is a Sun Grazing Comet.

Given that magnitude estimates can vary a lot from the visual magnitude to the red magnitude and that ccd sensors have evolved a lot of the last 5-10 years, I do not see how Ferrin can claim with 100% probability that ISON is turning off and/or will disintegrate."

Here's a scientific paper that concludes that: "Given current constraints on ISON's nucleus properties and the typically determined values for these properties among all comets, we find tidal disruption to be unlikely unless other factors (e.g., spin-up via torquing) affect ISON substantially." arxiv.org...

So, once again, don't be lead by the media headlines. The only sensible thing to do with comets is to watch and wait.

reply to post by wildespace


LOL...I just look at the projected path of the ISON and almost spilled my coffee...

Ison Path

Than I looked at the different angle.

Phew. For a moment there I thought we were done for

edit:

My mind drifted into a daydream...how is this comet able to turn, survive...what endless force is driving it through space...It's like a white cue ball on a gigantic space pool table...with a sign...we brake for no one...

I guess regarding ISON we still have to wait and see ....

But thank you all so much for all the input and enlightnment

reply to post by MarioOnTheFly


Nice link, thanks.

Hopefully this comet is a spectacular show.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Phage
reply to post by redshoes

 

Is there not a chance that trailing pieces as a result of a break up will follow on the same path but at a slower rate?

No.
Objects in orbit are in freefall. They are "falling" around the Sun. As Galileo (and later Newton) demonstrated, the mass of an object does not affect the way it falls.

That's a nice explanation, 36yrs of watching sci fi and I never pictured it like that, ...that's my daily quota of learning met for today!