COMET Ison coming into view - reported Nov 23 Horizon BBC2

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

Tonight Horizon Program about the current visit of Comet ISON going around the Sun in the next few days/weeks

 

Link to Horizon Program Now available for viewing Late Nov 2013 to Dec 2013

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03k3881/Horizon_20132014_Comet_of_the_Century_A_Horizon_Special/

 

Mike

 

Set off from the Ort Cloud .... some Four and a half billion years ago ... just coming by now 4.5 billion years later.Everybody should be able to see it in the northern hemisphere........ look east South East just above horizon DECEMBER 1st 2013, just below the Moon and Mercury. Thats this weekend ... rising by 10 degrees a day...

 

I am over there viewing right now. on the Tv Horizon Program via a space ..telescope........EEk its somewhere between 1 to 2 Kilometers long ( that's huge ) you are not talking about the tail but the thing itself, and its going into the Sun's Corona. maybe we are in for a show !

 

Did I miss something!. didn't somebody ought to have told us ALL . that a comet 2 km long is about to dive into the Sun's corona and may break up. have i been asleep and did not hear the announcement , when this is going to bee the FLYBY of the .....TIME

Edited November 23, 2013 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[John Cuthber]

"Did I miss something!. didn't somebody ought to have told us ALL ."

No, you didn't miss the announcement(s).

That's why you know about it.

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

"Did I miss something!. didn't somebody ought to have told us ALL ."

No, you didn't miss the announcement(s).

That's why you know about it.

.

.Yes, but I don't get it.

 

I thought we (the earth) were in some form of lookout for incoming foreign bodies from outer space.

 

Here, we are being advised by the astronomer on duty, that "an incoming " in heading for the sun's corona, where the hard bit is somewhere between 1-2 kilometers long. He says, " it is likely to break up , in the sun's corona.

 

I suppose there is no way of knowing which way the bits ' fly off' . I do not suppose ,that if one of the bits starts heading for earth at mind bending, jaw dropping speed, that we will have an awful lot of time to launch ' nukes' or whatever to divert its trajectory.

 

I thought we were going to have plenty of time to arrange ' ducking' strategy . How long does it take a comet 2 Kms long accelerating towards the sun coming all the way from the Orte cloud ( about as far out as you can go in the solar system), getting faster and faster as it nears the sun. Then a nasty chunk of 2 km long ice or some fraction, sling shooting itself around the sun , coming out in some random trajectory? Perhaps we need to " keep our head down " in December .

Edited November 24, 2013 by Mike Smith Cosmos

[StringJunky]

Mike Smith Cosmos, on 24 Nov 2013 - 2:53 PM, said:

.

.Yes, but I don't get it.

 

I thought we (the earth) were in some form of lookout for incoming foreign bodies from outer space.

 

Here, we are being advised by the astronomer on duty, that "an incoming " in heading for the sun's corona, where the hard bit is somewhere between 1-2 kilometers long. He says, " it is likely to break up , in the sun's corona.

 

I suppose there is no way of knowing which way the bits ' fly off' . I do not suppose ,that if one of the bits starts heading for earth at mind dropping speed, that we will have an awful lot of time to launch ' nukes' or whatever to divert its trajectory.

 

I thought we were going to have plenty of time to arrange ' ducking' strategy . How long does it take a comet 2 Kms long accelerating towards the sun coming all the way from the Orte cloud ( about as far out as you can go in the solar system), getting faster and faster as it nears the sun. Then a nasty chunk of 2 km long ice or some fraction, sling shooting itself around the sun , coming out in some random trajectory? Perhaps we need to " keep our head down " in December .

"A break-up would pose no threat to Earth, assures Yeomans. "Comet ISON is not on a collision course. If it breaks up, the fragments would continue along the same safe trajectory as the original comet." http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/18jan_cometison/

[Janus]

.

.Yes, but I don't get it.

 

I thought we (the earth) were in some form of lookout for incoming foreign bodies from outer space.

 

Here, we are being advised by the astronomer on duty, that "an incoming " in heading for the sun's corona, where the hard bit is somewhere between 1-2 kilometers long. He says, " it is likely to break up , in the sun's corona.

 

I suppose there is no way of knowing which way the bits ' fly off' . I do not suppose ,that if one of the bits starts heading for earth at mind dropping speed, that we will have an awful lot of time to launch ' nukes' or whatever to divert its trajectory.

 

I thought we were going to have plenty of time to arrange ' ducking' strategy . How long does it take a comet 2 Kms long accelerating towards the sun coming all the way from the Orte cloud ( about as far out as you can go in the solar system), getting faster and faster as it nears the sun. Then a nasty chunk of 2 km long ice or some fraction, sling shooting itself around the sun , coming out in some random trajectory? Perhaps we need to " keep our head down " in December .

Comet ISON has been in the news for months, where have you been?

And no, there is absolutely no chance of any piece of it hitting the Earth. Its present course takes it well above the ecliptic when it crosses Earth orbit. Even if the Comet "exploded", any explosion large enough to deflect pieces of comet into Earth's path would almost entirely consume the comet. The little bit left over wouldn't even amount to to a good meteor shower.

[Mike Smith Cosmos]

 

And no, there is absolutely no chance of any piece of it hitting the Earth. ......

 

I Hope you are right

"A break-up would pose no threat to Earth, assures Yeomans. "Comet ISON is not on a collision course. If it breaks up, the fragments would continue along the same safe trajectory .........

 

Thanks for your assurance.. I'm off to Italy Dec 1 -Dec 8 should get a good view of the fireworks, if there are any . try and bring back some pictures.

 

 

Janus, on 24 Nov 2013 - 6:13 PM, said

 

 

Comet ISON has been in the news for months, where have you been?

 

I don't know , iv'e been around, watched TV, been on the Science forum. never heard anything. ! Oh well perhaps I live a sheltered life !

 

Mike

Edited November 24, 2013 by Mike Smith Cosmos