I remember a night, long ago,
when I stood at the end of my Grandpa’s crunchy, gravelly farmyard driveway, my
father beside me. We looked up at the night sky. That deep in the dark country
night, the sky was a breath-taking, glittering sight, framed by the silhouette
of the surrounding trees.
All was silent.
Then “There it is!” whispered my
father, pointing to the sky.
And there, amongst the stars, a
shimmering, silver streak crossed the black night sky.
What a beautiful and
unforgettable sight! But with it 76 year cycle, it’ll be some time before
Halley sails over anyone’s farm again.
The good news is we may not have
to wait quite that long to indulge in such a sight again. In December and
January, another comet with the unusual name of ISON, is set to dance across
the sky over our Earth! And the scientists say it’s going to be an especially
bright and beautiful vision.
Scientists are working hard to
get as many different views and readings as possible. And so they should! Not
just because it’s to be a spectacular sight, but because ISON is a very special
comet that may come bearing once-in-a-lifetime news.
ISON, named for the equipment
used to discover it in September 2012, was born from the far off Oort cloud.
This is big collection of icy objects that, according to scientists, orbits the
sun somewhere beyond Pluto. Every once in awhile, a chunk of ice escapes and begins
hurtling toward the inner solar system. This is where comets come from. This
cloud is just about as old as our solar system, leading scientists to believe
it must contain materials from that ancient beginning. As ISON is a brand new
comet (a mere 10,000 years old!), and this is its maiden voyage, it’s surface
will still contain clean and undisturbed materials from the solar system’s
earliest days, providing a very unique opportunity to learn something about how
our system got here in the first place!
Here are some interesting facts
about our upcoming visitor.
·
It’s shedding about 112,00 pounds of dust, and
130 pounds of water every minute.
·
The nucleus is only 3 to 4 miles across, but the
head of the comet in total comes to about 3100 miles across.
·
The tail is around 57,000 miles long.
Comet ISON is what they
call a ‘sun-grazer’ comet. Its orbit will take very close to the sun that it
will be, for a time, in mortal danger. It will get close enough that it will be
in danger of melting, breaking up or losing its tail.
But, provided ISON survives it’s dangerous
voyage, make sure to watch the sky. It will be close enough to be seen with the
naked eye starting from the beginning of December. Early in the month it will
be visible near the horizon in the early morning hours. Then, in late December
and early January, it will be visible all night long. It’s closest approach to
earth, and therefore potentially the best view we’ll have, is supposed to take
place on December 26th.
Keep your camera handy, and happy sky gazing!
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