ISON is coming...

[46er]

some info for gazing. A spotting scope will be helpful.

From November on;

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/ison/#november

General info;

http://www.space.com/19973-comet-ison.html

 

[46er]

ISON is here and now viewable with the naked eye. It is close to the sun, use caution, especially with children. Looking like Tuesday will be the next clear sky day. The viewing guides at the 'nightskyinfo' link have excellent info by month; December looks to be the best month.

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/ison/#ison_nakedeye

http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=89419

 

[dogg57]

 

[manumuskin]

tried to find it two nights ago and could not. Got up at 5 AM and froze to see nothing.Problem is I have not got new glasses yet and since having cataract surgery I cannot read at all without them though I no longer need them for long distance seeing. I have a pair of over the counter reading glasses but they are not right and after reading a few minutes I get headaches behind my left eye..I did not take glasses with me thinking that the comet is long distance stuff but apparently looking through binoculars makes it close distance stuff.Every star I found including Spica looked like a fuzzball comet so if I seen the comet I assumed it was a star. I came home and put on my reading glasses and used the binoculars and everything was much better but by then I was home and live in the woods with no horizon view. I was cold and disgusted and went back to bed. I have prescription glasses coming in a week.I'll try again then.Of course naked eye I should not need glasses by then.

 

[46er]

tried to find it two nights ago and could not. Got up at 5 AM and froze to see nothing.Problem is I have not got new glasses yet and since having cataract surgery I cannot read at all without them though I no longer need them for long distance seeing. I have a pair of over the counter reading glasses but they are not right and after reading a few minutes I get headaches behind my left eye..I did not take glasses with me thinking that the comet is long distance stuff but apparently looking through binoculars makes it close distance stuff.Every star I found including Spica looked like a fuzzball comet so if I seen the comet I assumed it was a star. I came home and put on my reading glasses and used the binoculars and everything was much better but by then I was home and live in the woods with no horizon view. I was cold and disgusted and went back to bed. I have prescription glasses coming in a week.I'll try again then.Of course naked eye I should not need glasses by then.

It will be harder to see as it gets closer to perihelion, disappearing and then during December be pretty easy to spot. Or so the story goes. I remember Hale-Bopp, freezing on the beach with 2 youngun's for several hours for a big goose-egg. McNaught was very easy and worthwile viewing, although it was cold. Got some decent pix of it.

I went thru the same thing you are going thru, have to have my other eye done this winter. It is worth it.

 

[manumuskin]

Never seen McNaught but did see Hale Bopp and Hyukatake. They claim Ison may be as bright as the full moon on it's return trip after swinging around the sun but then again the sun may rip it apart and/or destroy it. I'd much rather watch it in the evening. That 5AM crap is nonsense.
I get my reading glasses within a week and I get distance glasses (mainly for driving in unfamiliar areas and cutting glare at night) within two weeks.Gettin old sucks.

 

[johnnyb]

"It ain't for sissies" - anonymous.
I looked forward to getting cataract removed from my good left eye (right one damaged with WMD) only to discover afterwards that the poor, low light level vision problem in it wasn't due to the cataract but to dry macular degeneration. Now that was a REAL bummer....
Has anyone, locally, seen ISON?

 

[46er]

Gettin old sucks.

Maybe yes, maybe no. I'm enjoying most of the ride. It is freakin' amazing the good they can do with a little knife in about 10 minutes.

At least I don't have to go on Obamacareless.

Has anyone, locally, seen ISON?

Might keep an eye on the Space Weather site for pictures. The sky has not been that good for when it is currently viewable. I'll wait for December. You could also check local astronomy clubs. I'd bet most will offer viewing opportunities with their gear. ASTRA will be at Jakes Branch CP up on the balcony.

 

[manumuskin]

Have heard a lot of bad things about Obamascare but it hasn't affected me yet.

 

[manumuskin]

I think I"m gonna wait for ISON"s return trip. I"m still wiped out from that 5AM rendezvous with Turkey Point.

 

[46er]

Welp, ISON made it thru perihelion. That's it, dead center just above the blocked out sun. Lets hope for clear skies in December.

 

[manumuskin]

I was reading that they thought the sun wiped it out.All they seen was a tail come around the other side. Is this an update from yesterday? perhaps they found it.Hope it's still fairly intact.

 

[Gibby]

Hope it's still fairly intact.

At first NASA wasn't quite sure what happened or what become of the comet when it collided with solar fire. The latest update I read was what ever piece briefly survived the brush with the sun on Thanksgiving Day is now dissipating into a cloud of dust.

I wonder what the doomdayers will look for next. ISON was suppose to be a planet killer.

 

[46er]

I was reading that they thought the sun wiped it out.All they seen was a tail come around the other side. Is this an update from yesterday? perhaps they found it.Hope it's still fairly intact.

The current thoughts on what may have/is happening. No one reallyknows.

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/ison/#ison_survives

 

[46er]

Looking like it got fried.

After plunging through the solar atmosphere, ISON emerged as a headless ghost. Its nucleus dwindled away to nothing and most of the tail simply evaporated. Astronomers assumed that the comet completely disintegrated and died a fiery death.

However, several hours after perihelion, ISON began to brighten up again. Everyone watched in disbelief at how quickly the comet developed a wedge-shaped coma and a dust tail. Unfortunately, the renewed and rather substantial coma failed to evolve. At the moment of writing this (early morning, December 1), Comet ISON is fading at the rate expected of a simple, inactive debris cloud moving farther from the Sun's illumination.

It now seems unlikely that there will be much to see when the comet (or what is left of it) returns to dawn visibility after December 5. Keep in mind, however, that during most of the last month, Comet ISON brightened and dimmed in unexpected ways. There may be hope yet.