CometISON

Comet ISON Befuddles the Experts

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Take a ball of loosely aggregated rock and ice, the nucleus of a comet, fresh from the distant reaches of the solar system.  Throw it past the sun, really fast, but so close that the sun takes up a large fraction of the sky.  What’s going to happen?  The answer: nobody knows for sure.  Yesterday … Read more

Icy Comet ISON’s Trial By Fire

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Comet ISON, a pristine chunk of rock and ice from the extreme edges of the solar system, is making its first visit to the vicinity of the Earth and the Sun. And what a trip! Today, in a few hours, at 1:45 in the afternoon on the U.S. east coast, the comet will pass exceptionally … Read more

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