Hi Ron/List, Given the length of the current arc (270 days), and the consistency of the photometry over that time, I will go out on a limb and say that this will almost certainly become the brightest comet that has ever been seen -- by a significant margin -- by most people alive today.
What's particularly amazing is how close this comet will come to Mars around October 1st next year -- less than 7 million miles! Hopefully NASA/JPL will have plans in the works to schedule instrument pointing and imaging of the comet using the suite of sensors both on and in orbit around the Red Planet. For Mars, this will be a northern hemisphere comet -- certainly visible from both rovers. --Rob -----Original Message----- From: meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com [mailto:meteorite-list-boun...@meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of Ron Baalke Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 8:57 AM To: Meteorite Mailing List Subject: [meteorite-list] Big Sun-diving Comet Discovered: Comet C/2012 S1(ISON) Space Weather News for Sept. 25, 2012 http://spaceweather.com SUNDIVING COMET: Astronomers are paying close attention to a newly-discovered comet, C/2012 S1 (ISON), which is heading for a remarkably close encounter with the sun. Fierce solar heat could turn Comet ISON into a bright naked-eye object in Nov. 2013. First images and speculation about the comet are highlighted on today's edition of http://spaceweather.com ______________________________________________ Visit the Archives at http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html Meteorite-list mailing list Meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
