NASA's Solar Observing Fleet Watch Comet ISON's Journey Around the Sun
After several days of continued observations, scientists continue to work to determine and to understand the fate of Comet ISON: There's no doubt that the comet shrank in size considerably as it rounded the sun and there's no doubt that something made it out on the other side to shoot back into space. The question remains as to whether the bright spot seen moving away from the sun was simply debris, or whether a small nucleus of the original ball of ice was still there. Regardless, it is likely that it is now only dust. The comet was visible in instruments on NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, and the joint European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, via images called coronagraphs.
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
Credit:NASA/STEREO/ESA/SOHO/SDOGSFC
"Timelapse" series of images of comet ISON as viewed by ESA/NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO. This image is a composite, with the sun imaged by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in the center, and SOHO's two coronagraphs showing the solar atmosphere, the corona. The most recent image in this is from 6:30 a.m. EST on Dec. 1, 2013.
Image Credit:ESA&NASA/SOHO/SDO
This view captures the transformation of Comet ISON as it rounded the sun. It combines 60 SOHO C2 frames in which ISON appears (Nov. 28, 1248 UT, to Nov. 29, 0316 UT) with stars, noise and particle tracks removed, plus an SDO AIA 171 image of the sun taken just before the spacecraft attempted to image the comet near perihelion.
Credit: NASA/ESA/SOHO, NASA/SDO, and Francis Reddy
These images from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show Comet ISON growing dim as it made the journey around the sun. The comet is believed to have broken up and evaporated.
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
Credit: NASA/STEREO/ESA/SOHO/GSFC
Comet ISON has moved quite close to the sun in this image from ESA/NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured at 10:51 a.m. EST on Nov. 28, 2013. This image is a composite, with the sun imaged by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in the center, and SOHO showing the solar atmosphere, the corona.
Image Credit:
ESA&NASA/SOHO/SDO
Comet ISON moves ever closer to the sun in this image from ESA and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, captured at 9:30 a.m. EST on Nov. 28, 2013. This image is a composite, with the sun imaged by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, in the center, and SOHO showing the solar atmosphere, the corona.
Credit: ESA&NASA/SOHO/SDO
ISON enters the field of view of the joint ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, spacecraft's C3 coronograph, where the brighter view of the sun itself is blocked to focus on the solar atmosphere, or corona. This video covers 17 hours beginning at 19:42 UT on Nov. 26, 2013.
Watch this video on the NASAgovVideo YouTube channel.
Credit: ESA&NASA/SOHO/GSFC
ISON enters the field of view of the joint ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, spacecraft's C3 coronograph, where the brighter view of the sun itself is blocked to focus on the solar atmosphere, or corona. This video covers 17 hours beginning at 19:42 UT on Nov. 26, 2013. Full-resolution, full-field frames, video at 6fps and still.
Credit: ESA&NASA/SOHO
NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft continues to observe Comet ISON as it approaches the sun. This movie from the spacecraft's Heliospheric Imager shows Comet ISON, Mercury, Comet Encke and Earth over a five day period from Nov. 20 to Nov. 25, 2013. The sun sits right of the field of view of this camera. This version is enhanced, resized and cropped for HD.
Watch this video on the NASAgovVideo YouTube channel.
Credit: NASA/NRL/STEREO/CIOC/GSFC.
NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft continues to observe Comet ISON as it approaches the sun. This movie from the spacecraft's Heliospheric Imager shows Comet ISON, Mercury, Comet Encke and Earth over a five day period from Nov. 20 to Nov. 25, 2013. The sun sits right of the field of view of this camera. This is the full-resolution, full field-of-view. It covers the same time period as the video above and has a time stamp.
Credit: NRL/NASA STEREO/CIOC.
NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is monitoring Comet ISON as it approaches the sun. The latest movie from the spacecraft's Heliospheric Imager shows Comet ISON, Mercury, Comet Encke and Earth over a two day period from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22, 2013. The sun sits right of the field of view of this camera.
Image Credit: Karl Battams/NRL/NASA STEREO/CIOC.
Comet ISON makes its appearance into the higher-resolution HI-1 camera on the STEREO-A spacecraft. The dark "clouds" coming from the right are density enhancements in the solar wind, causing all the ripples in comet Encke's tail. These kinds of solar wind interactions give us valuable information about solar wind conditions near the sun. Note: the STEREO-A spacecraft is currently located on the other side of the Sun, so it sees a totally different geometry to what we see from Earth.
Credit: Karl Battams/NASA/STEREO/CIOC
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual images should be credited as indicated above.
Writer
- Karen Fox (ADNET)
Video editor
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
Scientist
- Karl Battams (Naval Research Laboratory)
Producer
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle)
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Untitled
Dec. 25, 2013, 7 p.m.
Read moreA close encounter with the sun seals Comet ISON s fate. || The ESA/NASA SOHO spacecraft and NASA’s STEREO spacecraft captured the views of Comet ISON seen in this video. || Comet ISON shone brightly as it approached the sun on Nov. 28, 2013. || A portion of the comet survived the trip around the sun, as seen in this image. || This time-lapse image shows how the comet’s glow faded as it traveled away from the sun.
Comet ISON before and during Perihelion
Dec. 10, 2013, 8 a.m.
Read moreMESSENGER s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO, using the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation, or SUMER, instrument, which is an ultraviolet telescope and spectrometer that is no longer often used on SOHO. It was turned on specifically to take images of ISON during perihelion over the course of Nov. 27 – 29, 2013. Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO
What is a Sungrazing Comet?
July 16, 2013, 9 a.m.
Read moreShort, narrated video about sungrazing comets.Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.For complete transcript, click here. || Sungrazing comets are a special class of comets that come very close to the sun at their nearest approach, a point called perihelion. To be considered a sungrazer, a comet needs to get within about 850,000 miles from the sun at perihelion. Many come even closer, even to within a few thousand miles. Being so close to the sun is very hard on comets for many reasons. They are subjected to a lot of solar radiation which boils off their water or other volatiles. The physical push of the radiation and the solar wind also helps form the tails. And as they get closer to the sun, the comets experience extremely strong tidal forces, or gravitational stress. In this hostile environment, many sungrazers do not survive their trip around the sun. Although they don s orbit suggests that it may gain enough momentum to escape the solar system entirely, and never return. Before it does so, it will pass within about 40 million miles from Earth on December 26th. Assuming it survives its trip around the sun.
The Path of Comet ISON
March 29, 2013, 7 a.m.
Read moreComet ISON is now approaching the inner solar system. Discovered last year, the comet remains unusually active for its distance from the sun. If current trends continue, ISON could rank as one of the brightest comets in decades when it makes its close approach to the sun in late November. This animation shows the comet s Swift imaged Comet ISON (center) on Jan. 30, when it was located about 3.3 degrees from the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini. At the time of this 5.5-minute optical exposure, ISON was about 5,000 times fainter than the limit of human vision and was located 375 million miles (604 million km) from Earth and 460 million miles (740 million km) from the sun. Credit: NASA/Swift/D. Bodewits, UMCP || No display group of hyperwall multimedia.