Comet ISON is Coming [Archive] - The Island Of Misfit Hams

NQ6U

08-04-2013, 01:05 AM

I am looking forward to this. After the disappointment of Kohoutek in '73 and Halley's Comet in '86, I've been hoping for a really good celestial display.

On edit: Looks like I may have to wait a bit longer:

"Stargazers were initially very excited when astronomers calculated the comet’s orbit and they realized it would be skimming the sun’s surface by only 700,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) on November 28, 2013. But continual observations by both professional and amateur telescopes, including Hubble, have since shown that the comet has not brightened as expected."

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/07/30/comet-ison-pop-or-fizzle/

KG4CGC

08-04-2013, 01:10 AM

When the last one, 1999, 2000? Small but visible and most interesting to a certain group. A good pair of binoculars revealed quit a bit about that comet which most people are not willing to admit they saw.

n2ize

08-04-2013, 04:56 AM

WØTKX

08-04-2013, 08:06 PM

Hale-Bopp was pretty cool. Looking forward to the new one.

kb2vxa

08-04-2013, 08:53 PM

N2NH

08-04-2013, 09:22 PM

... a week. Some years it almost looks and sounds like a fireworks show.

Top 10 Perseid Meteor Shower Facts (http://www.space.com/12592-top-10-perseid-meteor-shower-facts.html)

While April’s Lyrids and November’s Leonids are also brought by comets, the Perseids are arguably the best. Not only are there more meteors per hour, but August’s meteor shower also boasts the most fireballs of any other shower per year.

The Los Angeles Times notes that Bill Cooke, head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, recently crowned the Perseids the fireball champion of meteor showers. Cooke and his team tracked fireball activity since 2008 and discovered that Perseid meteors shine brighter than any other annual shower, though the Geminids come in close second.

The magnitude of the show is likely because Swift-Tuttle has a larger than average nucleus, which is about 16 miles across. While the shower is expected to peak on August 11-12, the Perseids can actually be seen from July 17 until August 24, though the days before the peak will be better than those after.

Perseid Meteor Shower Underway, Peaks Next Week (http://www.inquisitr.com/886157/perseid-meteor-shower-underway-peaks-next-week/)

KJ3N

08-04-2013, 11:06 PM

I have yet to see a single meteor shower in my life. Over the last decade or so, it has always been overcast and/or raining during these events. Next week's event is shaping up to be similar. The 12th is forecast to be cloudy with a 60% chance of rain.

K9CCH

08-04-2013, 11:14 PM

What if this comet is the one that hits the sun and knocks it out?

KG4CGC

08-04-2013, 11:27 PM

What if this comet is the one that hits the sun and knocks it out?

In that case, now is the time to figure out a way to give up your virginity. QUICK!

K9CCH

08-04-2013, 11:36 PM

In that case, now is the time to figure out a way to give up your virginity. QUICK!

Did that about an hour and a half ago...

KG4CGC

08-04-2013, 11:39 PM

Well then you're good to go.

K7SGJ

08-04-2013, 11:41 PM

Did that about an hour and a half ago...

Me, too. But I was alone when it happened.

K9CCH

08-04-2013, 11:41 PM

Well then you're good to go.

yup! And I got my 10th stamp on my frequent flyers card too, so the next one is FREE!! Woohoo!

W2NAP

08-05-2013, 01:27 AM

anyone hear about the meteor tonight that made the sky light up from NY to Alabama?

KG4CGC

08-05-2013, 02:15 AM

anyone hear about the meteor tonight that made the sky light up from NY to Alabama?

If we don't hear about it by daylight then it was swamp gas.

KG4CGC

08-05-2013, 02:19 AM

... a week. Some years it almost looks and sounds like a fireworks show.

Top 10 Perseid Meteor Shower Facts (http://www.space.com/12592-top-10-perseid-meteor-shower-facts.html)

Perseid Meteor Shower Underway, Peaks Next Week (http://www.inquisitr.com/886157/perseid-meteor-shower-underway-peaks-next-week/)

Thank you for the reminder. Last year I got out on clear night in a dark place and hardly saw anything. What did manage to shoot across the sky was so faint that there was no way I could capture it with the consumer grade equipment I was using. Believe it or not, I believe my phone would do a better job in video mode.

This was the best I could do last year.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c79/bebop5/Meteor%20Aug%202012/6167d5bf.jpg

N2NH

08-05-2013, 10:30 AM

What if this comet is the one that hits the sun and knocks it out?

They hit the Sun fairly often. The Sun being so big, it barely makes a splash. They just sort of go in without a notice.

N2NH

08-05-2013, 10:34 AM

Thank you for the reminder. Last year I got out on clear night in a dark place and hardly saw anything. What did manage to shoot across the sky was so faint that there was no way I could capture it with the consumer grade equipment I was using. Believe it or not, I believe my phone would do a better job in video mode

Nice shot. You can see the Earth's rotation in the star trails.

In the early 70s I was in Central Massachusetts and the Perseids were coming in about one every 10-20 seconds until 1:30 AM. They went off with a bang like a small fireworks rocket. It was so quiet that one of the neighbors called the cops complaining that I was setting off fireworks. Worse yet, Barney Fife showed up trying to be Joe Friday. It was a real hoot when as he was questioning me one went off behind him and he jumped. :lol:

KG4CGC

08-05-2013, 02:30 PM

Nice shot. You can see the Earth's rotation in the star trails.

In the early 70s I was in Central Massachusetts and the Perseids were coming in about one every 10-20 seconds until 1:30 AM. They went off with a bang like a small fireworks rocket. It was so quiet that one of the neighbors called the cops complaining that I was setting off fireworks. Worse yet, Barney Fife showed up trying to be Joe Friday. It was a real hoot when as he was questioning me one went off behind him and he jumped. :lol:

LOL!
"Barn."
"Yes, Ange."
"Give me your bullet."
"Aww, Ange."

n2ize

08-06-2013, 10:01 PM

Nice shot. You can see the Earth's rotation in the star trails.

In the early 70s I was in Central Massachusetts and the Perseids were coming in about one every 10-20 seconds until 1:30 AM. They went off with a bang like a small fireworks rocket. It was so quiet that one of the neighbors called the cops complaining that I was setting off fireworks. Worse yet, Barney Fife showed up trying to be Joe Friday. It was a real hoot when as he was questioning me one went off behind him and he jumped. :lol:

When I was up in the Adirondacks one year I saw an incredible meteor shower. They were crashing in at a rate of several per second, each one sounded like dynamite going off.

KG4CGC

11-14-2013, 12:55 PM

http://earthsky.org/space/comet-ison-has-an-outburst

n2ize

11-14-2013, 05:28 PM

Hale-Bopp put on a spectacular display in the glare of sunset. Touted as a once in a lifetime event it will probably remain so.

That name is hauntingly familiar............

Well they've got a new dance and it goes like this
(Hale boppa, hale boppa shoo boppa)
Yeah the name of the dance is Peppermint Twist
(Hale boppa, hale boppa shoo boppa)
Well you like it like this, the Peppermint Twist

I remember walking from work through Manhattan's gritty "Lower East Side" to the train while Hale-Bop was in the sky. Some guy goes up to me on Avenue A (yes folks NYC does have some streets designated with letters rather than numbers, we affectionately call it "alphabet city"), anyway some guy comes up to me, points in the direction of both the rising moon and Hale-Bop and say's "This means something". I said, "I guess it does", as I disappeared into the night,

kb2vxa

11-14-2013, 11:16 PM

Ah yea, the Perseids. They usually put on a good display and pinging off trails is a good 6M challenge because burns often last long enough for an SSB exchange, sometimes two. I've had plenty of fun with that and have seen a few wicked displays, one from a parking lot at Newark Airport that amazed me I could see anything at all with such light pollution. Some intense bolloids looked like they were going to crash in the Exxon Bayway (Elizabeth) refinery, frankly I was prepared for the worst.

"Worse yet, Barney Fife showed up trying to be Joe Friday."

What would you have done if he showed up WITH Joe Friday?

WØTKX

11-15-2013, 10:55 AM

Tried to spot it this AM. Will look tomorrow with binoculars.

W2NAP

11-16-2013, 04:39 PM

Tried to spot it this AM. Will look tomorrow with binoculars.wish I could... damn clouds keep me from it.

KG4CGC

11-16-2013, 04:55 PM

Cloudy, of course. Trying to watch the meteor shower. Would love to get some photos but every year, especially for the August one, the clouds come in.

Send in, the Clouds.

w8nsi

11-17-2013, 12:49 AM

Old article but is everyone ready. I bet there will be millions if not billions of photographs and videos of this one.

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/18jan_cometison/

I wonder if there are any "mother ship" cults getting ready to suicide their way aboard for the outbound trip?

N7YA

11-17-2013, 07:24 AM

Lets not forget the Taurids display, Mercury right above the east horizon before sunrise, the planetary dance all in addition to these showers. Last week, as i was leaving the gate, i saw a HUGE fireball to the south, then it exploded. Im in Vegas, this looked like it hit the south side of town, i later learned it was over So Cal! It was part of the yearly Taurids shower. http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1112997336/taurid-meteors-light-up-california-skies-110713/

n2ize

11-17-2013, 07:35 AM

wish I could... damn clouds keep me from it.

Same thing here. Anytime something interesting happens in the sky, a meteor shower, and eclipse, etc the clouds roll in and blot it away. The comet should be no problem though as it lasts a while so there is bound to be at least a half hour one evening that we are not shrouded with clouds. This time of year is particularly bad round here, almost constant cloudiness. Not to mention light pollution. The local area switched over to LED street lighting which is better for sky watching but they left the old sodium lighting on our street. I remember when they switched from incandescents to sodiums, the whole area was switched over yet this street was still lit by incandescents for a long time after.

NQ6U

11-17-2013, 12:52 PM

I wonder if there are any "mother ship" cults getting ready to suicide their way aboard for the outbound trip?

The biggest mass suicide to occur in San Diego since the GOP nominated Bob Dole.

KK4AMI

11-29-2013, 06:42 AM

Oh the horror! Our Mr. Sun ate Comet Izon.

PA5COR

11-29-2013, 08:21 AM

Not completely though, so we can expect some dudt flythrough in Jan/Feb when we pass those remnnats...

kb2vxa

11-29-2013, 09:48 AM

Those who don't learn from history end up repeating it.

WØTKX

11-29-2013, 04:02 PM

Zombie comet, or part of it, may have survived...

VE7DCW

11-29-2013, 08:14 PM

ISON definately seems to have become an inadvertent Kamikaze comet......that rolls off quite nicely :-D

n2ize

11-30-2013, 08:40 AM

What if this comet is the one that hits the sun and knocks it out?

According to some people Ison turned Mars into a comet. And, it is going to turn the sun into a comet. Yet others claim ison is really Nibiru (Planet X) and yet others claim it is really the "mother ship" being guided towards the earth by two small alien spacecraft.

suddenseer

11-30-2013, 09:04 AM

I have only been able to observe one comet in my lifetime. Remember comet Kohoutek? What a let down, but i did see it in my telescope. I remember media hype that it would be so bright, it might cast a shadows. RIIIIIGHT.

WØTKX

11-30-2013, 10:43 AM

You didn't see Hale-Bopp?
It was hard to miss.

n2ize

12-01-2013, 12:01 PM

Hale Bop was quite bright and plainly visible with the unaided eye. Even in the middle of Manhattan with all the lights it was plainly visible and quite spectacular.

KG4CGC

12-01-2013, 12:55 PM

It was visible in the daytime.

kb2vxa

12-01-2013, 03:13 PM

Shimmy shimmy Hale Bopp shimmy shimmy bop (ahh)
Shimmy shimmy Hale Bopp shimmy shimmy bop (ahh)
Sittin' in a native hut
All alone and blue
Sittin' in a native hut
Wonderin' what to do
Along came a native girl
Did a native dance
Lit up by the comet
Put me in a trance
Goin' shimmy shimmy Hale Bopp shimmy shimmy bop
Shimmy shimmy Hale Bopp shimmy shimmy bop

N2NH

12-01-2013, 08:31 PM

I'm a comet virgin. Still haven't seen one unaided eye or otherwise. Really wanted to see Hailey's Comet, but that fizzled. Same with Kohoutek. Have seen a few incredible meteorites though.

kb2vxa

12-02-2013, 12:05 PM

That's easily fixed.

KC2UGV

12-03-2013, 08:07 AM

You didn't see Hale-Bopp?
It was hard to miss.

Sadly, Hale-Bopp showed it's face during the consistently overcast season here :(

W5BRM

12-03-2013, 08:21 AM

I was lucky enough to see Halle-Bopp a few times from the eastern Arizona high desert. No light pollution, crystal clear skies. It was amazing. The tail seemed to cross half the sky! Unfortunatly, that was at a time before digital cameras were a cheap consumer item and smartphones weren't even a glimmer yet, so i was unable to get any images recorded. What i saw has been one of my most treasured memories of nature in all its splendid glory...

suddenseer

12-03-2013, 09:10 AM

You didn't see Hale-Bopp?
It was hard to miss.The window of visability, it was totally overcast. This is Ohio viewing the cosmos takes much paitence.

kb2vxa

12-03-2013, 02:30 PM

W5BRM

12-03-2013, 03:37 PM

"No light pollution, crystal clear skies."
??? Hale-Bopp was best seen at sunset. I remember vividly watching it above the houses across the street from my roof about 40 feet off the ground. Too bad you didn't take a picture but somebody did, Joshua Tree and all so download and save it since it fits your situation.

Thanks!

The times I saw it best was about 2-3h after sunset. At the time I was running a regularly scheduled route that always had me on I-40 east of Flagstaff and for the few weeks I ran it, I would stop for my rest break and always had a gorgeous view of it. That was in March of '97 I think... memory is kinda fuzzy. I do remember it was quite cold and that helped the view as there was no heat radiation to blur it much. I see on most pictures it looks like the tail is bluish white colored. I always seem to remember it as greenish color but that may just be time... who knows

But thanks for the pic!

kb2vxa

12-03-2013, 05:39 PM

Oh you're quite welcome, I just had a hunch. BTW, it's pronounced eye-gore. (;->) Take another look, it had two tails, one blue and the other green. Unfortunately when I saw it the residual sunlight and city lights washed out the colors and all I saw was the brighter white closer to the head. The short star trails in the photo tell the photographer's story, a short time exposure reveals the dimmer and longer tails.

N2NH

12-04-2013, 04:58 AM

...going, gone. Seems that there's a faint remnant, but even that is fizzling out.

I guess I'm still a comet virgin.

K7SGJ

12-04-2013, 10:38 AM

Well, all is not lost. You might get some cosmic rain out of it.

kb2vxa

12-04-2013, 02:11 PM

"I guess I'm still a comet virgin."
No you're not, we recently discussed this.

"You might get some cosmic rain out of it."
Is that Purple Rain from the stars?

n2ize

12-05-2013, 07:47 AM

Cloudy, of course. Trying to watch the meteor shower. Would love to get some photos but every year, especially for the August one, the clouds come in.

Send in, the Clouds.

Don't bother, they are here.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRH4MCIMhRjmD-vuK7nLiP_SlIbnaYHkl4xvzpD2mZGCy8rQ26u

PA5COR

12-05-2013, 07:51 AM

Stormy here, Schotland measured 250 KM/H we hav force 8 now and going up.

n2ize

12-05-2013, 08:39 AM

Actually the clouds are here. Right down to ground level. It's a foggy day.

PA5COR

12-05-2013, 10:09 AM

Update Estofex, LVL 3 !

A level 3 was issued for NE Netherlands, NW and N Germany and extreme S Denmark mainly for extreme wind gusts, and to a lesser extent for tornadoes.

http://i44.tinypic.com/epf0wx.jpg

Just saw thhe first blue stretch of heaven when the coldfront passes with rail hail, sleet and 60 mile per hour winds...
Had a few flashes and thunderclaps too, and yes i'm in the North of the country smack middle in the worst region