A newcomer named ISON is paying a visit to our inner solar system just in time for this year’s Thanksgiving meal. If your eye has any inclination towards the night sky you might want to set your alarm at an ungodly hour for a chance to glimpse what is to be a spectacular show from outer space.
The highly anticipated “Comet of the Century” ISON hails from the Oort Cloud, a dusty collection of celestial ice that resides on the edge of our solar system trillions of miles away. ISON, a gaseous conglomerate of ice and rock, has been traveling for thousands of years for its stopover by our Sun - so many years a sleeper may be willing to drag the sand bags from their eyes to say hello.
ISON is now visible by the naked eye at around four in the morning or about two hours before sunrise. The comet can be seen hurtling by the constellation Virgo in the southeast sector of the starry abyss, flanked by planets Saturn and Mercury. Although ISON has recently increased in brightness by a magnitude of 10, light pollution from cities and the moon may call for an auxiliary pair of binoculars to assist with visibility.
ISON will crescendo towards an epic finale in the early hours of Thursday, Nov. 28, when it passes its closest point to our Sun, about 1 million miles away. Astronomers expect the rare “sungrazing” comet to flare in a dramatic spectacle for early rising stargazers and enthusiasts alike.
ISON is estimated to be about one to three miles in diameter and is considered rather small as far as comets go. What it lacks in size it may make up in brightness, especially since ISON dares pay no heed to the cautions of Daedalus. Scientists say there is a sizable chance that it will break up during its daring encounter with the Sun.
Astronomers are beyond ecstatic for this rare opportunity to study the comet. Many comets such as ISON are tangible remnants from billions of years ago when our solar system originally came into being and can offer insights to its formation. Astronomers will be in quite a time crunch as the comet can only be studied close up for the several weeks that it soars within the bounds of Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
ISON was named after the International Scientific Optical Network, the telescope used to first glimpse its existence by two amateur Russian astronomers.
