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Friday, October 5, 2012

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) - Update 2012, Oct. 4

We obtained further follow-up on C/2012 S1 (ISON) on 2012, Oct. 4.6, again  through the 2.0-m f/10.0 Ritchey-Chretien + CCD + Bessel R filter of Faulkes  Telescope North (F65) Haleakala.

Stacking of 9 exposures, 120 seconds each, produced an image where  a well developed and elongated coma measuring nearly 6"x9" is now visible, extended toward PA  280 deg. Click on the image below for a bigger version.



From this stacking, the Afrho parameter was determined to be about 1530  +/- 150 cm (see panel below). The total magnitude has been measured as R= 17.7. Click on the image below for a bigger version. 



For more info about comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) please see our previous post: 



by Nick Howes, Giovanni Sostero and Ernesto Guido

3 comments:

  1. Hello,

    As C/2012 S1 ISON is approaching the "Jupiter Orbit" (I mean, the distance of Jupiter from the Sun...), is there something new concerning this comet ?

    Are you able to confirm (or not...) that it could be a "great show" in November /December 2013 ?

    Thank you for the coming updates !

    Happy new year ! (the year of "The great comet of 2013" ?)

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  2. Usually sizes of cometary nuclei are estimated when the comets are well away from the sun and there is no contamination by the coma.

    Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) is very active at present and so, due to the coma surrounding the nucleus, it is not possible to estimate its size.

    Ernesto

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