A composite image of Comet ISON as seen from the Hubble Space Telescope on April 30th, 2013. (Credit: HubbleSite.org/Go/ISON).
Perhaps you’ve read the news. This Fall, the big ticket show is the approach of Comet C/2012 S1 ISON. The passage of this comet into the inner solar system has been the most anticipated apparition of a comet since Hale-Bopp in 1997.
Many backyard observers will get their first good look at Comet ISON in the coming month. If you want to see this comet for yourself, here’s everything you’ll need to know!
Discovered on September 21st, 2012 by Artyom-Kislovodsk and Vitaly Nevsky using the International Scientific Optical Network’s (ISON) 0.4 metre reflector, this comet has just passed out from behind the Sun from our Earthly vantage point this summer to once again become visible in the dawn sky.
Of course, there’s much speculation as to whether this will be the “comet of the century” shining as “bright as the Full Moon” near perihelion. We caught up with veteran comet observer John Bortle earlier this year to see what skywatchers might expect from this comet in late 2013. We’ve also chronicled the online wackiness of comets past and present as ISON makes its way into the pantheon as the most recently fashionable scapegoat for “the end of the world of the week…”
But now its time to look at the astronomical prospects for observing Comet ISON, and what you can expect leading up to perihelion on November 28th.
