Comets


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Deep space COMET FLYBY: First PICS

Empty NASA space bomber in recce pass against 2nd target

NASA's former Deep Impact comet-bomber space probe, since renamed EPOXI* and reassigned to rendezvous with a second space snowball, has made a successful close pass by the comet Hartley 2.

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© The RegisterExtraplanetary spaceball paparazzo-shot wondrousness.

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Cometary Poison Gas Geyser Heralds Surprises

As NASA's Deep Impact (EPOXI) probe approaches Comet Hartley 2 for a close encounter on Nov. 4th, mission scientists are certain of only one thing:

"We're about to be surprised," says principal investigator Mike A'Hearn of the University of Maryland. "This comet is unlike any we've visited before, and we don't know what we're going to find."

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Twin Fireballs May Have Come From Comet Hartley 2

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© UWO/NASA/Bill CookeThese two fireballs with orbits similar to the comet Hartley 2 were observed on Oct. 16. 2010 by cameras in western Ontario (left) and the southeastern USA (right). The fireballs may have been caused by meteors from the comet.
Astronomers have recorded two magnificent fireballs that may have come from a nearby comet that made its closest pass by Earth in 24 years this month, prompting speculation on whether the icy cosmic visitor may be offering a meteor shower show.

The fireballs were spotted on Oct. 16, just four days before of the close pass by Comet Hartley 2 and a few weeks ahead of a Nov. 4 visit to the comet by a NASA spacecraft. It is possible the fireballs are related to the comet, but it may also be a coincidence, NASA scientists said.

Before the fireballs were observed, NASA scientists were skeptical of any substantial meteor display from Comet Hartley 2. "Probably not," said astronomer Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office, "but the other night we saw something that makes me wonder."

Cooke was speaking, of course, of the twin fireballs. They were spotted five hours apart on the night of Oct. 16 by skywatching cameras in Canada and the United States.

Comment: For an interesting article on comets, read the SOTT Focus Disclosure and Comets.


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Time To See Comet Hartley 2

For backyard stargazers, now is the best time to see green Comet 103P/Hartley 2 as it approaches Earth for an 11-million-mile close encounter on Oct. 20th. Set your alarm for the dark hours before dawn, go outside, and look straight up. You will find Hartley 2 not far from the bright star Capella: sky map. Although the comet is barely visible to the unaided eye, it is easy to find in binoculars and looks great through a backyard telescope.

Rolando Ligustri has been observing the comet nightly using a robotic 4-inch telescope in New Mexico.

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© Rolando Ligustri
Many readers have asked, why is the comet green? Answer: Hartley 2's green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.

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NASA advisory council recommends establishment of new agency to protect planet from cometary bombardment

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© darkgovernment.comTechnologically feasible? Or wishful thinking?
Washington - NASA should establish a Planetary Defense Coordination Office to lead efforts should the Earth be threatened by asteroids and comets, a U.S. report says.

The report, by the Ad-Hoc Task Force on Planetary Defense of the NASA Advisory Council, offers suggestions on how the agency should prepare to lead national and international plans for defending Earth from collisions from near-Earth objects, SPACE.com reported Tuesday.

"This was a very important step in the process of the United States government defining its role in protection of life from this occasional, but devastating natural hazard," former astronaut Russell Schweickart, co-chairman of the task force, said.

"Happily, in the instance of asteroid impacts, this is a natural disaster which can be prevented ... only, however, if we properly prepare and work together with other nations around the world."

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Newly Discovered Sundiving Comet

A newly-discovered comet is diving toward the sun. Chinese comet hunter Bo Zhou found it on Oct. 19th in SOHO coronagraph images. The comet is faint now, but it should brighten in the hours ahead as it heats up. To see it, first check the finder chart, then play the movie. That tadpole is a doomed comet. Updates will be posted as the view improves.

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It's Raining Pieces of Halley's Comet!

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© Meteor Physics Group, University of Western OntarioA 2010 Orionid meteor, seen over Western Ontario, Canada. A waxing gibbous moon shines brightly at the left side of the image.

The most famous of all comets, Comet Halley is noted for producing spectacular displays when it passes near Earth on its 76-year trip around the sun. However, you don't have to wait until 2061 to see a piece of the comet -- you can do it this very week!

Halley's Comet leaves bits of itself behind -- in the form of small conglomerates of dust and ice called meteoroids -- as it moves in its orbit, which the Earth approaches in early May and mid-October. When it does, it collides with these bits of ice and dust, producing a meteor shower as the particles ablate -- or burn up -- many miles above our heads. The May shower is called the Eta Aquarids, as the meteors appear to come from the constellation Aquarius. The October shower has meteors that appear to come from the well-known constellation of Orion the Hunter, hence the name: Orionids.

Orionids move very fast, at a speed of 147,300 miles per hour. At such an enormous speed, the meteors don't last long, burning up very high in the atmosphere. Last year, the NASA allsky cameras at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and in Chickamauga, Ga., recorded 43 definite Orionid meteors. Most of these appeared at an altitude of 68 miles and completely burned up by the time they were 60 miles above the ground, seen in the graph at right.

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Comets Triggered Aboriginal Tales of Doom

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© NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA-JPL)Aboriginal culture includes a colourful history of comets in the Australian skies.

Australia's first people viewed comets as portents of doom, a new study of Aboriginal astronomy has found.

Writing on the pre-press website arXiv.org, Duane Hamacher from Sydney's Macquarie University who led the research, says Aboriginal people developed an extensive culture regarding the night sky with stories and detailed observations.

"Different Aboriginal groups had different seasons linked to certain stars which correlated to the availability of certain food sources, or when Indonesian fishermen would come to trade," says Hamacher.

"Aboriginal societies typically associated comets with fear, death, omens of sickness, malevolent spirits and evil magic, which is consistent with many other cultures around the world."

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Moonlight Meteor Shower Spawned By Halley's Comet

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© SPACE.com
A junior version of the famous Perseid meteor shower thought to have originated from the remains of Halley's Comet will hit its peak over the next week, but the light of the moon may intrude on the sky show.

This upcoming meteor display is known as the Orionids because the meteors seem to fan out from a region to the north of the Orion constellation's second brightest star, ruddy Betelgeuse.

The annual event peaks before sunrise on Thursday (Oct. 21) but several viewing opportunities arise before then for skywatchers in North America. [Where to look to see the Orionids]

The shooting stars are created by small bits of space dust - most no larger than sand grains - thought to be left over from the famed Halley's Comet, which orbits the sun once every 76 years.

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Comet Hartley 2 Update

For backyard stargazers, the next few nights are the best time to see green Comet 103P/Hartley 2 as it approaches Earth for an 11-million-mile close encounter on Oct. 20th. Set your alarm for the dark hours before dawn, go outside, and look straight up. You will find Hartley 2 not far from the bright star Capella: sky map. Although the comet is barely visible to the unaided eye, it is easy to find in binoculars and looks great through a backyard telescope.

Doug Zubenel sends this picture (Oct. 9) from the Monument Rocks National Landmark in Kansas:

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© Doug Zubenel