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Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)

Is that...?

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The BBC are saying it's a goner:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25143861

Comet Ison seems to have been destroyed in its encounter with the Sun.

Telescopes saw the giant ball of ice and dust disappear behind the star, but then fail to emerge as expected.

Astronomers continue to search for the object, but it is almost certain the much vaunted "Comet of the Century" has gone out with a whimper.

Despite its great size, Ison was probably torn apart in the immense heat and tidal forces so close to the Sun
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I was convinced ISON was a gonner--but now look at the soho images from after 00Z
http://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov
I aint an expert, but that sure looks to me more than just a debris cloud emerging round the sun.
I'm gonna have to wait a bit longer to throw in the towel here.
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25143861

Hope still for 'dead' Comet Ison

Comet Ison, or some part of it, may have survived its encounter with the Sun, say scientists.

The giant ball of ice and dust was initially declared dead when it failed to re-emerge from behind the star with the expected brightness.

All that could be seen was a dull smudge in telescope images - its nucleus and tail assumed destroyed.

But recent pictures have indicated a brightening of what may be a small fragment of the comet.

Astronomers admit to being surprised and delighted, but now caution that anything could happen in the coming hours and days.

This remnant of Ison could continue to brighten, or it could simply fizzle out altogether.
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Fingers crossed.
 
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I was bummed at the apparent disintegration of the comet.Hopeful when a tail appeared and joyous that it seems to have survived. How freaky?!
 
I am glad to see it still around; the unpredictability of the result means there's definitely some science to do here.

But, I think referring to what the comet has been doing as "brightening" seems to me rather gratuitously optimistic. Comparing the dissolute smudge that has been traveling away from the sun with the intensely bright Comet ISON of even the evening before perihelion, it becomes obvious we're talking about a shadow of a ghost of the former comet, here. It certainly won't be any kind of naked-eye object.
 
Checkmite said:
It certainly won't be any kind of naked-eye object.
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http://www.spaceweather.com/
Astrophotographer Babak Tafreshi has edited an HD video that compares views of ISON from both of SOHO's coronagraphs. "It seems the comet could become a naked eye object with several degrees of scattered tail by Dec 2nd or 3rd," he predicts. "It's not the comet of the century for sure, and fainter than the Lovejoy sungrazer in Dec. 2011, but an interesting imaging target is just a few nights away!"
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I never did get to see it other than via SOHO and STEREO. I doubt I'll ever see it now (or rather what's left of it); from what I can find that thing that came streaking out of the sun "is ISON but not as we know it Jim."
 
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