More Observations of Comet 2012 S1 ISON

Over a period of a little more than an hour, I took several images of Comet 2012 S1 ISON.  It is still very dim - between 17 and 18 magnitude.  I took the images and drew an imaginary line between two specific stars in the images.  I also drew pointer lines to indicate the position of the comet.

Over the period of time, the comet clearly crosses the line.  The movement of the comet is clearly visible.

These images were taken with the Slooh telescope in the Canary Islands.

More on the Apparent Split of the Red Spot on Jupiter

The Great Red Spot of Jupiter (GRS), has appeared to have split into two storms.

Jupiter is always interesting to watch.  You never know what the atmosphere there will look like from one time to the next.  The Red Spot is a storm that has lasted for centuries.  It was first seen by Cassini in 1665.  When I was younger, the spot was vividly red.  In recent years, it has sometimes been renamed the Great Pale Spot because it has dimmed.  More recently, it has reddened again.

The GRS is not the only storm on Jupiter.

Three storms were formed in the 1930s and were designated with the exciting names FA, BC, and DE.   BC and DE merged in 1998 to form one storm, called BE.  In March 2000, BE and FA merged to form "Oval BA," and that storm is, I think, what we are seeing in the GRS.

I think we are seeing a conjunction of Oval BA and the GRS.  These two storms came together in July 2006.

I took the image below using the Slooh Telescope on February 24, 2007.

Although not as sharp as my recent photos of Jupiter, the GRS here seems to be larger, brighter and expanding into the southern regions, similar to today.

The problem with Oval BA is that my telescopes and the Slooh telescope in the Canary Islands usually can't detect it because its color blends into the surrounding atmosphere.

I'd love to see some images from some larger scopes.

Is The Great Red Spot of Jupiter Splitting in Two?

Something interesting is happening on Jupiter.  The Great Red Spot is showing signs of turmoil.  It has increased in size, especially in the southern area.  The is a white bridge apparently bisecting the GRS.  For several weeks I've observed more activity in the Southern Equatorial Belt.

On August 19, 2012, I felt there was something different with the GRS.  It seemed normal, except for the white 'halo' around it.  I also noticed the increased activity in the Southern Equatorial Band.  The were several whitestructures there.

 

On October ,2012 utc, and again the following day, the Red Spot definitely seemed to be changing. 

 

Memories of Comets Past

I've seen and photographed a little more than 100 comets.  Not all of them have been interesting, but some have been great and spectacular.

The first comet I ever saw was Ikeya Seki, back in 1965.  My Dad woke me up early one morning and we drove out toward the northern edge of Greenville, SC.  I suppose Dad thought the elevation of the foothills of the Piedmont would benefit us, and it did.  We had a great view.

As we headed out, Dad said, "I think that's it up there," but I said "That's just the spot light from J.M. Fields." Fields was a Walmart of the day, and it promoted itself with a huge spotlight that could be seen all over town -- sort of a Bat Signal without the bat. 

But unlike the spot light from J.M. Fields, this one was stationary.

It was the great comet Ikeya Seki, also known as C/1965 S1, or 1965 VIII or 1965f.  It had been independently discovered by Kaoru Ikeya and Tsutomu Seki.  It was first observed as a faint object on September 18, 1965, and early calculations showed that on October 21st it would pass within a mere 450,000 km above the Sun's surface.  The heat from the Sun would melt a lot of the ice, causing a spectacular tail. 

It did not disappoint.

The first astro-photo I took was of this comet.  With a telephone pole in the foreground to demonstrate the apparent size of the comet in the sky over Greenville, SC, this photo has been published several times.  (The growth around the bottom half of the telephone pole?  That's kudzu, which is a familiar curse in the American South).

 

Comet Bennett, also known as  C/1969 Y1 (old style 1970 II and 1969i), was a nice, bright comet easily seen in the skies without a telescope or binoculars.  It was discovered by John Caister Bennett on December 28, 1969.  It reached perihelion on March 20, passing closest to Earth on March 26, 1970.

 

Comet Bennett on April 4, 1970
Ware Shoals SC

Photo by Pittendreigh

 Comet Kohoutek will forever be remembered as the dud of the 1970s.  Yet, for all of its failure to live up to the expectations, it was a fairly bright and somewhat interesting comet.

Comet Kohoutek

January 27, 1974

Photo by Pittendreigh and Doug Stevens

Comet West appeared in 1976 and was a beautiful early morning object in the March skies.  It was glimpsed ten minutes before sunset on February 25, 1976, making it the last daylight comet sighting until McNaught in 2007.  However, only astronomers seemed to be aware of this comet.   The mainstream media all but ignored Comet West, probably because of the failure of Comet Kohoutek to live up to predictions two years earlier.

 Comet West

Seen from Simpsonville SC

Photo by Pittendreigh

Halley's Comet, also was a bit of a disappointment for the 20th Century observers.  This was not the appearance it had when Mark Twain was born, or later when he died.  My father looked at it through my telescope and said, "I've been waiting all my life to see that damned disappointment?"

 Comet Halley 

1986

Photographed by Pittendreigh

Comet Hyakutake was a fun comet!  I was able to make lots of interesting photos over several days in 1996.  It was only brightest for a few days, but it was spectacular.  

 Comet Hyakutake

Photographed at the New Bethel Presbyterian Church

Piney Flats Tennessee

Photo by Pittendreigh

 Comet Hale–Bopp  C/1995 O1) was perhaps the most widely observed comet of the 20th century.  It was the brightest one that had been seen for decades and was visible to the unaided eye for a record 18 months!  

 Above and below:  Comet Hale Bopp

Photographed by Pittendreigh 

In the Everglades near Miami FL

73P/Schwassmann–Wachmann, also known as Schwassmann–Wachmann 3, was not a naked eye comet.  It was not particularly bright.  However, because the comet appeared to pass in the field of view of the Ring Nebula the comet was an interesting challenge to photograph for a couple of hours in 2006.

 

In 1995, 73P began to disintegrate.It was seen to break into four large pieces labeled 73P-A, B, C, & D.  By March, 2006, there were at least 8 fragments and in the following month, dozens.  It appears the comet may eventually disintegrate completely and cease to be observable.  It is now known to have split into at least 66 separate fragments.

 ^{Above and below - the breaking up of a comet}

Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007 or C/2006 P1, was discovered on August 7, 2006, by astronomer Robert H. McNaught.  It was the brightest comet in over 40 years.  It was easily seen in the Southern Hemisphere, but for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere the visibility was brief.  I was fortunate to capture several images of the comet on a cold January evening at Sunset as it appeared over the skyline of Atlanta, Georgia.

 Comet McNaught, 2007, 

Photographed by Pittendreigh 

Atlanta Skyline, 

Seen from Stone Mountain

Comet Holmes, 17P/Holmes, was discovered by the British amateur astronomer Edwin Holmes on November 6, 1892. Although normally a very faint object, Holmes became notable during its October 2007 return when it temporarily brightened by a factor of about half a million, in what was the largest known outburst by a comet, and became visible to the naked eye.

The outburst of 2007 made Holmes a fascinating comet to observe.  On October 23 to 24, 2007, the comet went from magnitude 17 to 2.8 in a period of about 42 hours, making it visible to the naked eye.

The cause of the outburst is not definitely known. The huge cloud of gas and dust may have resulted from a collision with a meteoroid, or perhaps a build-up of gas inside the comet's nucleus breaking through the surface.

In October, viewers from Earth 

were looking straight down the tail of the comet

 rather than the profile view of December.

Comet Tuttle (8/P) shows up every 20 years, and is not usually that spectacular, however in December, 2007, the comet came in the same field of view as M33 Galaxy, making for a nice little Kodak Moment.

 Comet Tuttle and M33

Ephermeris For Comet 2012 S1 For October

Here is the emphemeris for Comet 2012 S1 ISON for the month of October, 2012

Date    TT    R. A. (2000) Decl.     Delta      r     Elong.  Phase   m1    m2
2012 10 01    08 16 15.6 +27 48 12   6.4968  6.1960    68.2     8.6  18.0
2012 10 02    08 16 34.5 +27 48 10   6.4712  6.1862    69.2     8.7  18.0
2012 10 03    08 16 53.0 +27 48 11   6.4456  6.1764    70.1     8.8  18.0
2012 10 04    08 17 10.9 +27 48 14   6.4198  6.1667    71.0     8.8  17.9
2012 10 05    08 17 28.4 +27 48 19   6.3940  6.1569    71.9     8.9  17.9
2012 10 06    08 17 45.3 +27 48 27   6.3680  6.1471    72.8     8.9  17.9
2012 10 07    08 18 01.7 +27 48 37   6.3420  6.1373    73.7     9.0  17.9
2012 10 08    08 18 17.6 +27 48 49   6.3158  6.1274    74.6     9.0  17.9
2012 10 09    08 18 32.9 +27 49 04   6.2896  6.1176    75.6     9.1  17.9
2012 10 10    08 18 47.7 +27 49 21   6.2634  6.1078    76.5     9.1  17.8
2012 10 11    08 19 01.9 +27 49 41   6.2370  6.0979    77.4     9.2  17.8
2012 10 12    08 19 15.5 +27 50 04   6.2106  6.0881    78.4     9.2  17.8
2012 10 13    08 19 28.6 +27 50 29   6.1841  6.0782    79.3     9.3  17.8
2012 10 14    08 19 41.0 +27 50 57   6.1575  6.0684    80.2     9.3  17.8
2012 10 15    08 19 52.9 +27 51 27   6.1309  6.0585    81.2     9.4  17.8
2012 10 16    08 20 04.1 +27 52 00   6.1043  6.0486    82.1     9.4  17.7
2012 10 17    08 20 14.7 +27 52 36   6.0776  6.0387    83.1     9.4  17.7
2012 10 18    08 20 24.6 +27 53 15   6.0508  6.0288    84.0     9.5  17.7
2012 10 19    08 20 33.9 +27 53 57   6.0240  6.0189    85.0     9.5  17.7
2012 10 20    08 20 42.5 +27 54 41   5.9972  6.0090    85.9     9.5  17.7
2012 10 21    08 20 50.5 +27 55 28   5.9704  5.9991    86.9     9.5  17.7
2012 10 22    08 20 57.8 +27 56 18   5.9435  5.9892    87.8     9.6  17.6
2012 10 23    08 21 04.3 +27 57 11   5.9167  5.9792    88.8     9.6  17.6
2012 10 24    08 21 10.2 +27 58 07   5.8898  5.9693    89.8     9.6  17.6
2012 10 25    08 21 15.4 +27 59 06   5.8629  5.9593    90.7     9.6  17.6
2012 10 26    08 21 19.8 +28 00 07   5.8360  5.9494    91.7     9.6  17.6
2012 10 27    08 21 23.5 +28 01 12   5.8091  5.9394    92.7     9.6  17.6
2012 10 28    08 21 26.5 +28 02 20   5.7822  5.9294    93.7     9.6  17.5
2012 10 29    08 21 28.7 +28 03 30   5.7553  5.9194    94.7     9.6  17.5
2012 10 30    08 21 30.2 +28 04 44   5.7285  5.9094    95.6     9.6  17.5
2012 10 31    08 21 30.8 +28 06 00   5.7017  5.8994    96.6     9.6  17.5

My First Images of Comet 2012 S1 - Dim, But There!

When a dim comet or asteroid is captured in an image, the only way to confirm the object is to compare several images taken over a period of time.

By taking several photos during the course of more than an hour, I've captured and confirmed my first images of Comet 2012 S1 ISON.  At this point the comet is at magnitude 17.9.

The photo above is enhanced.  The photos below are raw materials, with only information and pointers added.