The sky of the four comets, here are the stars that light up the ... - The Messenger

It was discovered in September of last year, when he was at a distance of about 615 million kilometers from the Sun, but only the day after tomorrow we will know what will be its fate. Ison, the comet spotted by astronomers for the first time Russians Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, holds the scientific community with bated breath. A question of all: will it make to survive the heat of our star? We’ll know in just a few hours. But Ison is not the only star that errant visits us from the depths of the Universe.

There are four, in fact, comets visible during this period. Lovejoy, the last to be discovered in chronological order (was spotted last September by Australian Terry Lovejoy), is the real surprise. Currently located near the constellation Leo and has all the characteristics to become bright enough to be seen with the naked eye later this month.
Comet C/2012 X1 (Linear), however, is in the vicinity of the star more brilliant constellation of Bootes, Arcturus, and is visible (but not to the naked eye) in the early morning sky not far from Ison. And finally, the Comet 2 / P (Encke), a periodic comet well-known and studied because it has a relatively short period of 3.3 years.

A NAKED EYE
But the undisputed star of the heavens seems to be the right Ison. Thursday will pass through the so-called perihelion, or the closest point to the Sun, at a distance of less than two million miles from our star. “It will be found immersed in the solar corona – comments Paolo Molaro, INAF Astrophysical Observatory of Trieste – The moment the comet will reach the maximum heating and the volatiles trapped inside will become of the gases that exert strong pressure that could lead to the destruction partial or total of the comet. ” So as you will see in our skies? “I believe that survive the passage grazing the Sun, probably fragmenting – continues the scientist – and who later became very bright, visible to the naked eye and with a tail of varying degrees and will be a real spectacle for the whole month of December.”

THE SHOW
Optimism Molaro has a precise scientific connotation and is based on a statistical model of granite. The Ison, which has about 5 km in diameter, is a relatively large comet when it passes close to the Sun and the evaporation of water and other volatile components will produce a significant amount of gas and dust form a vast and luminous tail. “When comets become visible to the naked eye – the scholar continues INAF – become a wonderful show. The queues as in the case of the Mac Naught of 2006 can reach lengths of hundreds of millions of miles. “

NO BALL
Ison is under the eyes of the whole world so much that NASA had prepared an incredible mission. He had built a telescope to be launched in September with a hydrostatic balloon to observe the comet in detail, but before the launch (expected on 28 September), something went wrong and the project after months of frantic work has been lost. What NASA is one of the many projects that aim to unravel the mysteries of comets. “Italy – adds Molaro – is engaged with the ESA Rosetta mission that aims to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.”

A question arises, why is it important to study a comet? “In our solar system, comets are the most ancient things that we can observe, virtually untouched since their formation – ends Molaro – They may have brought part of our water and other ingredients that have allowed the start of the complex chemistry of life on Earth. Today they are an important tool to understand the formation of our system and the variety of extra-solar systems. ” But amid forecasts, assumptions, plans one thing is certain: the Ison, Comet Christmas, will never return.