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Did Comet ISON Survive Perihelion?
Animation of Comet ISON’s Close Encounter with the Sun.
Individual frames courtesy of NASA’s SOHO Mission.
The rumors of Comet ISON’s demise may be greatly exaggerated, well maybe not greatly, but I couldn’t resist the pun. Shown above are a series of still frames from NASA’s SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) Mission.
Reports from earlier in the evening, as well as many images from SOHO showed what looked to be the demise of comet ISON. Follow the “read more” link to see additional images and video.
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. At the time this video was published, the comet was believed to have broken up and evaporated.
Image Credit: NASA/SDO/ESA/SOHO/GSFC
At this point, I’d say that “something” survived perihelion, but how significant that “something” is, and whether or not we’ll be able to view it with telescopes in the next few days is anyone’s guess.
That being said, Phil Plait did compare comets to cats on his blog – specifically, with respect to how unpredictable both can be.
If you want to keep up with the latest developments on what comet ISON’s true fate may be over the next few days, here’s a few links:
Phil Plait (Bad Astronomy Blog)
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2013/11/did-comet-ison-survive-perihelion/
