For Robinson: A Comet Thread

[Dancing David]

To see what will happen, and this thread should try to sty about comets!

There are many of them visible if you want to try

this is one resource. Binoculars and a star map will help.

http://www.aerith.net/comet/weekly/current.html

[Wolverine]

Oh nice. Hopefully this one will remain woo-free.

Here's another spiffy comet resource (http://cometography.com/).

[Dancing David]

Oh nice. Hopefully this one will remain woo-free.

Here's another spiffy comet resource (http://cometography.com/).

Spifforama!

Much better watching chart here:
http://www.cometchasing.skyhound.com/index.html

I will warn people, don't expect you friends to be impressed by comets if you take them out gazing. I showed my friend the vauge small blob that was Hale Bop on it's way into the system. I had to make it up to him by showing him the Andromeda galaxy.

[robinson]

Our knowledge of the composition and nature of comets has been transformed. New cometary molecules were observed, as well as isotopic species. New physical processes could be studied, owing to the large amounts of matter escaping from these objects, to the proximity of Earth allowing a detailed investigation of the region close to the nucleus (comet Hyakutake), or to the unusual physical conditions far from the Sun (comet Hale–Bopp). Selected results of these observations, relevant to the chemistry and physics of molecules and grains, are discussed. It is shown that whereas some old problems are now solved, new ones have emerged.
http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/FD/article.asp?doi=a800079d

[Dancing David]

That is a very cool article, if somewhat old. I thought that the synthesis of molecules in the coma was interesting and that the prevalence of the dueterium to hydrogen ratio was interesting. More and more complex molecules are being found in interstellar molecular clouds.

I thought Hyakutake was very very very cool! You could see it moving.

[robinson]

I find the asteroids that exhibit comet like characteristics most odd.

[Dancing David]

Well, I would not say that i know that they are either, the Centaur and Chiron bodies may be a mix of both. It would appear that there are rocky bodies and that there are icy bodies, so a combination of both is not unlikely.

This has some good factoid type stuff.

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chiron.html

[Tumblehome]

I will warn people, don't expect you friends to be impressed by comets if you take them out gazing. I showed my friend the vauge small blob that was Hale Bop on it's way into the system. I had to make it up to him by showing him the Andromeda galaxy.


Was he impressed with that vague small blob? ;)

Speaking of Andromeda, I've found it's better to show it to people first, then explain what it is. If I build it up first as "farthest object the human eye can see, over 2 million light years away", they expect fireworks for some reason and are disappointed in the fuzzy blob.

[XBoxWarrior]

A Comet Thread

I prefer Comet to Ajax......seems to get my bowl cleaner? ;)

[Molinaro]

Comets.. comets.. oh I wish I had not heard comets mentioned the way I did just a little while ago.

I was unfortunate enough to see about 1 minute of Larry King today as they talked about the Texas UFO story.

A guest asked the eyewitnesses the following (paraphrasing):

"I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence with this. But, could what you saw maybe have been a comet?"

Ugh.. talk about insulting your own intelligence! He probably thinks comets streak accross the sky :(

[Dancing David]

Here is a very cool picture:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

[Wolverine]

Here is a very cool picture:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Nice shot. Here's the specific URL for that photo (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080120.html), BTW, since it'll rotate to tomorrow's APOD by midnight.

My favorite shots of McNaught were taken by the discoverer himself. These (http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~rmn/C2006P1new.htm) are just gorgeous.

This one (http://spaceweather.com/comets/mcnaught/30jan07/Tse3.jpg) by James Tse is breathtaking as well (comet + Milky Way + Magellanic clouds... *drool*).

Unfortunately I never got a chance to view this one; we were socked in by clouds this time last year and by the time it cleared off I only got to see faint remnants of the dust tail after sunset. It put on a much better show for observers in the southern hemisphere anyway.

[slyjoe]

<----- I like this one. :)

[Wolverine]

<----- I like this one. :)

Me too (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960501.html) -- and am I correct in guessing these are yours (http://joeorman.shutterace.com/Comets.html)? :)

[slyjoe]

I wish they were mine, but they are not - the one in my avatar was taken by a co-worker at the time.

ETA: I can see why you might think so - the common use of "joe", but I'm a different joe. :)

[Wolverine]

ETA: I can see why you might think so - the common use of "joe", but I'm a different joe. :)

Ah, yep, that's where I went awry.

[Dancing David]

Nice shot. Here's the specific URL for that photo (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080120.html), BTW, since it'll rotate to tomorrow's APOD by midnight.

Thanks!

[slow lurker]

There is a nice photo composite on today's (Jan 21 2008) SpaceWeather dot com showing a size comparison between Holmes and the full moon.

Slow Lurker

[Wolverine]

There is a nice photo composite on today's (Jan 21 2008) SpaceWeather dot com showing a size comparison between Holmes and the full moon.


Linky (http://spaceweather.com/submissions/large_image_popup.php?image_name=Tom-J.-Martinez-Holmes-Moon-Comparison_1200545279.jpg).

[slow lurker]

Thanks for posting the link!

Slow Lurker

[Dancing David]

Here is some Stardust news:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080124161617.htm

[Dancing David]

Another cool set of pic at APOD:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080205.html