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For Robinson: A Comet Thread

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Our knowledge of the composition and nature of comets has been transformed. New cometary molecules were observed, as well as isotopic species. New physical processes could be studied, owing to the large amounts of matter escaping from these objects, to the proximity of Earth allowing a detailed investigation of the region close to the nucleus (comet Hyakutake), or to the unusual physical conditions far from the Sun (comet Hale–Bopp). Selected results of these observations, relevant to the chemistry and physics of molecules and grains, are discussed. It is shown that whereas some old problems are now solved, new ones have emerged.
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http://www.rsc.org/publishing/journals/FD/article.asp?doi=a800079d
 
That is a very cool article, if somewhat old. I thought that the synthesis of molecules in the coma was interesting and that the prevalence of the dueterium to hydrogen ratio was interesting. More and more complex molecules are being found in interstellar molecular clouds.

I thought Hyakutake was very very very cool! You could see it moving.
 
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Dancing David said:
I will warn people, don't expect you friends to be impressed by comets if you take them out gazing. I showed my friend the vauge small blob that was Hale Bop on it's way into the system. I had to make it up to him by showing him the Andromeda galaxy.
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Was he impressed with that vague small blob? ;)

Speaking of Andromeda, I've found it's better to show it to people first, then explain what it is. If I build it up first as "farthest object the human eye can see, over 2 million light years away", they expect fireworks for some reason and are disappointed in the fuzzy blob.
 
Comets.. comets.. oh I wish I had not heard comets mentioned the way I did just a little while ago.

I was unfortunate enough to see about 1 minute of Larry King today as they talked about the Texas UFO story.

A guest asked the eyewitnesses the following (paraphrasing):

"I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence with this. But, could what you saw maybe have been a comet?"

Ugh.. talk about insulting your own intelligence! He probably thinks comets streak accross the sky :(
 
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Dancing David said:
Here is a very cool picture:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
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Nice shot. Here's the specific URL for that photo, BTW, since it'll rotate to tomorrow's APOD by midnight.

My favorite shots of McNaught were taken by the discoverer himself. These are just gorgeous.

This one by James Tse is breathtaking as well (comet + Milky Way + Magellanic clouds... *drool*).

Unfortunately I never got a chance to view this one; we were socked in by clouds this time last year and by the time it cleared off I only got to see faint remnants of the dust tail after sunset. It put on a much better show for observers in the southern hemisphere anyway.
 
I wish they were mine, but they are not - the one in my avatar was taken by a co-worker at the time.

ETA: I can see why you might think so - the common use of "joe", but I'm a different joe. :)
 
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There is a nice photo composite on today's (Jan 21 2008) SpaceWeather dot com showing a size comparison between Holmes and the full moon.

Slow Lurker
 
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