Friday, November 29, 2013

Comet ISON may be 10-20 times brighter than Venus - RIA Novosti

Comet ISON in sight coronagraph LASCO C2 space solar observatory SOHO

MOSCOW, November 26 – RIA Novosti. Comet ISON, which will take place in a few hours at a minimum distance from the Sun, can by its brightness 10-20 times to beat Venus, told RIA Novosti astronomer engaged search for comets and asteroids.

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) was opened in September 2012, Russian astronomer Artem Novichonok and his counterpart from Belarus Vitaly Nevsky. Scientists believe that this comet may be the brightest in this decade, some said that its luster is comparable to the Moon. However, its brightness as it approaches the sun grew not as fast as expected.

“No” moon “, of course, will not, it’s not a comet Hale-Bopp with 60 kilometers of the nucleus, the nucleus of this comet has only 1.5-2 km in diameter. However solar observatory SOHO images show that its brightness reached approximately -4.5 th magnitude, ie the brightness of Venus “- a spokesman said. He added that if a comet in the sky was now farther from the sun is so bright that when it would be visible with binoculars even in the daytime sky.

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© NASA

One of the brightest comets decades committed to the Sun. Frames flight

At 22.45 MSK

Thursday comet should pass at a minimum distance from the Sun – 1.16 million kilometers, which is 40 times the orbit of Mercury. At this point it must achieve higher brightness values.

“We can expect that its brightness reaches -5, -6 magnitude, and since the change in magnitude per unit means an increase in the brightness of 10 times, we can say that it will be 10-20 times brighter than Venus,” – said astronomer.

Now

comet is visible only for pictures with C2 coronagraph solar observatory SOHO. Many astronomers believe that the comet nucleus is already collapsed, and after perihelion passage the comet finally disintegrate, becoming a cloud of dust. If it is “survive”, then it will be held December 26 at the minimum distance from the Earth – 64 million miles away.

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