Note: See updates below for the ISON ISOFF ISON nature of this comet that has everybody guessing. Picture at right also updated to reflect the new “zombie” status of this comet.
Looks like ISON has disintegrated during its turn around the sun. Given the radiation (estimated temperature 5,000F/2,760C – hot enough to vaporize rock), solar wind, and the tidal-forces (even though smallish, thanks Gavin) associated with its proximity and nearly 800,000 mph speed around the turn about that time, I’m not surprised. Watch the second video below where it goes “poof” (h/t to reader “David”)
NASA’s spaceweather.com reports:
Comet ISON is making its closest approach to the sun, and evidence is mounting that the nucleus of the comet has disintegrated. Watch the head of the comet fade dramatically as it approaches the sun in this SOHO coronagraph movie:
(may take a minute to load)
![sundiver_anim3[1]](http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/sundiver_anim31.gif)
The movie spans a day and a half period from Nov. 27th (01:41 UT) to 28th (15:22 UT). In the early hours of the 27th, Comet ISON brightens dramatically, saturating the pixels in the digital camera of the SOHO’s coronagraph. By mid-day on the 28th, however, the comet’s head appears to fade. This is a sign that the nucleus has likely fallen apart. That would make ISON a headless comet–more appropriate for Halloween than Thanksgiving.
Researchers working with the Solar Dynamics Observatory report that they are seeing nothing along the track that ISON was expected to follow through the sun’s atmosphere.
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UPDATE: Watch it go “poof” here:
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UPDATE2: NASA JPL Insider Amy Mainzer tweets some last minute hope that ISON may be “undead”
http://twitter.com/AmyMainzer/status/406179229487742976
A zombie comet, how cool is that?
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UPDATE3: Now it seems back again, but looking entirely different than before. A number of astronomers indicate they don’t know what is left of it, maybe a chunk, maybe a smooshed drawn out nucleus or something else. Image from SOHO’s coronagraph:
Comets’ icy cores are typically not dense and compact but only a loose assemblage without any mechanical strength. So even a weak tidal force could pull it apart to be scattered by solar wind.
If the exhaust of gases and interaction with the solar wind caused a very rapid spin, then wouldn’t g forces be an appropriate term? Negative g forces could rip it apart.
phlogiston says:
November 28, 2013 at 3:12 pm
I’m struggling to grasp that concept. Tidal (gravitational) forces will essentially act equally on all the parts of the relatively small body of the comet so why should it break up? Obviously, if it is mostly ice and rock, we could understand ‘melting’ aiding in said break up?
Lastest pic 22:24 GMT
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/c2/512/
looks like a healthy comet to me
meemoe_uk says:
November 28, 2013 at 3:20 pm
so where is the nucleus/head??? It looks to me more like the head has disintegrated and kinda spread out a bit? (well, a lot actually!)
BTW, does anyone else see the size of the comet head appear to reduce during solar approach in the blue gif sequence above? Not sure if it’s a scale issue or if it was actually being ‘burnt’ away? Tail gets more intense too (but is that due to solar energy effects?) ?
Ah, the latest SOHO image distinctly shows something coming around the other side…
http://soho.esac.esa.int/data/realtime/c3/512/latest.jpg
@kev
its at the front of the cometary blur just as always, but its not glowing as much as before the discharge event.
As i write this Ison will be moving out of SOHO LASCO C2 standard camera view. NASA should get 1 more shot in. Just waiting for it now
The quarterback is toast…..
There is a debris trail. Note that the “tail” follows the trajectory of the comet. It is not a comet tail which would point away from the Sun.
meemoe_uk says:
November 28, 2013 at 3:46 pm
Perhaps – but I’m not convinced! and the last image I’ve seen (22.54) shows a less bright ‘gap’ between the apex of where the head should be and the brighter section of tail. I’m thinking it has melted/broken up and the small bright tail is the remnants. If the tail fades further would that suggest it has no real head left (perhaps a small amount of rock?)?
will have to catch up with events tomorrow now – bedtime here, been a long day – cheers!
crosspatch says:
November 28, 2013 at 3:48 pm
Yeah, I thought that too…….
28 Nov: UK Telegraph: Julian Ryall: Japanese firm plans 250 mile-wide solar panel belt around Moon
Tokyo-based Shimizu Corp. wants to lay a belt of solar panels 250 miles wide around the equator of our orbiting neighbour and then relay the constant supply of energy to “receiving stations” on Earth by way of lasers or microwave transmission.
The “Luna Ring” that is being proposed would be capable of sending 13,000 terawatts of power to Earth. Throughout the whole of 2011, it points out, the United States only generated 4,100 terawatts of power…
Once completed, the belt would stretch 6,800 miles around the equator and ensure constant exposure to the sun – without the interference of cloud cover – and an equally constant transfer of energy to the Earth.
Shimizu believes that “virtually inexhaustible, non-polluting solar energy is the ultimate source of green energy”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/10480950/Japanese-firm-plans-250-mile-wide-solar-panel-belt-around-Moon.html
So how many solar atomic bombs does it take to kill a comet?
[i]>There is a debris trail. Note that the “tail” follows the trajectory of the comet. It is not a comet tail which would point away from the Sun.[/i]
The ‘debris trail’ was trailing in the trajectory b4 the discharge event. So a trailing tail now doesn’t indicate fragmentation.
Healthy comet tails can be in comet’s trajectory path, or away or towards the sun.
Comets never melt because they are not made of ice. The deep impact mission of last decade gave strong evidence that comets are rocks, i.e. an asteroid with a highly elliptical orbit.
It’s simply hiding with all the missing heat.
It’s alive Jim, but not as we know it.
ok the latest pic is up at soho ( linked above )
Amy Mainzer has stopped tweeting but John Maclean of Norman Lockyer Observatory is still active, he’s done a vid of the last few shots
https://twitter.com/search?q=john%20maclean&src=typd
his said in his last tweet he thinks its just dust
we already know the main body isn’t dust because you can see a molecular gas\vapour being blown off in the 23:24GMT pic by the solar wind to the left side of comet. That stuff is doing what dust would do. The main body is not being blown away by the solar wind.
And since we only got 1 visible fragment after the discharge event the only assertion you can make is Ison got fragmented but all the fragments stayed together. That is very unlikely.
We can already be >99% certain its still all in one piece.
Shame we didn’t get close up shots b4 it got zapped. There will be a new, and likely big, discharge crater on its surface.
Well, something made it through.
From Lasco C2.
http://s29.postimg.org/qg5kdfg3b/20131128_2324_c2_512.jpg
And now showing up on Lasco C3.
http://s27.postimg.org/5xi0ucl5v/20131128_2318_c3_512.jpg
The predicted path versus the current path of “whatever it is” appears to be shifted slightly – compare to C2 above.
http://s30.postimg.org/7dgoa0htt/pascal_perihelion.jpg
Note I’m putting up saved images because there has been a lot of traffic to the SOHO websites and it is not worthwhile putting up direct links.
But the SDO satellite process was supposed to capture some of this comet and they would have been spectacular movies with pictures captured every few seconds. Nothing at all showed up however. For example, if SDO could have captured the comet’s path in this video (one of 12 different possible capture scenarios), it would have been amazing. Nothing however.
http://cometison.gsfc.nasa.gov/index/kiosk/dataset/two_0171
Apparently, Comet 2012 S1 (ISON) broke up at 17:36 UT, Nov. 28 ’13, just before perihelion.
See SOHO coronagraph photo at 17:36 UT, Nov. 28 ’13, at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov//data/REPROCESSING/Completed/2013/c2/20131128/20131128_1736_c2_512.jpg
Also see SOHO coronagraph movie (November 28th ’13, 11:36 to 20:13 UT) (NASA – SpaceWeather.com), at http://spaceweather.com/images2013/28nov13/rip_anim2.gif?PHPSESSID=vfmvc3o1i9o24fdcjemma7rn55
Something made it through. You can make your own slide show here:
http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/images
John Maclean’s latest vid, most up to date vid at this moment
includes images up to 23:48 UT
It’s ion tail is visible again.