Let’s face it, for us naked-eye stargazers who don’t have the luxury of fancy, expensive telescopes, Comet ISON was a fizzer.
Scientists and media hyped up the comet’s journey. They promising to deliver a spectacular light show. like ordering a creaming soda spider, and instead receiving a melted ice cream with a serve of hot flat soda.
In November, we looked to the sky to watch this sungrazer ski across the Sun. Unfortunately, it went a little too close and melted. Already melting as it neared, comet ISON disappeared into the Sun.
What came out the other side was barely a resemblance of the comet that went into it.
Comet ISON discovery
This icy comet was first discovered by the Russians. Astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok from the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) found the comet in September 2012. It was out near Jupiter at the time and barely a speck in the sky.
Its initial visibility gave astronomers hope that ISON could put on a magnificent light show.
The comet appeared to have a large nucleus somewhere between 1 to 10 kilometres in range. As it already emitted significant light indicating the icy world was warming up, hopes were high for a spectacular event as it spewed dust and gas into our solar system in preparation for its rendezvous with the Sun.
ISON’s predicted journey
By January 2013, there was an enormous amount of speculation over the comet’s future. Many stargazers hoped that the sungrazer would survive and still be visible even in the daylight in late 2013 – early 2014
However, Don Yeomans of NASA’s Near-Earth Object program was sceptical. “Comets are notoriously unpredictable,” he stated in an interview about Ison.
Comet ISON’s remains
It became much clearer after observing comet ISON’s ill-fated date with the Sun that its surviving remnants are not much more than rubble.
It is possible there could be small chunks of the comet left, perhaps up to a metre in length. Those chunks were not enough to give us the light show of the century as the comet’s nucleus did not survive the journey.
The comet’s remains, as Karl Battams explains in his latest blog post on the CIOC website, will continue on the same orbit as ISON and disappear out of the solar system.
Change of a dust cloud
There’s a slim chance, Earth will interact with a dust cloud left behind by comet ISON om in January. Observations reveal ISON shedding dust before meeting the Sun.
Creation of dust clouds are a common side effect of comets. Earth moves through similar clouds all the time with little to no disturbance. The most spectacular of these are the Perseids meteor showers seen mostly in the Northern hemisphere during July – August.
Veteran meteor researcher, Paul Wiegert of the University of Western Ontario has examined computer models of comet ISON’s tail during 2013. Predictions indicate that Earth’s orbit will pass through the dust clouds made by ISON around the 12th January 2014.
Chances that we will have a spectacular meteor shower are slim. There is some discussion regarding a rare light show at the poles. Most likely the dust will float down through the atmosphere over a few months and we won’t notice a thing.