Just a few more months to wait! The latest on Comet ISON

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://earthsky.org/space/big-sun-diving-comet-ison-might-be-spectacular-in-2013

snip

"Comet ISON month-by-month in late 2013.

August 2013. As seen from Earth, Comet ISON will be behind the sun in June and July, 2013. When it returns to Earth’s sky in late August, it might be bright enough to be seen by observers using small telescopes at dark locations.

September and October 2013. Comet ISON will brighten as the months pass. In September and October, amateur astronomers will surely be trying to pick it up. The comet will be sweeping in front of the constellation Leo then. It’ll pass first near Leo’s brightest star Regulus, then near the planet Mars. Maybe you can see the comet with binoculars then, and maybe these brighter objects will help you find it.

November 2013. Comet ISON will continue to brighten throughout November as it nears its late November perihelion (closest point to our sun). Comet expert John Bortle wrote on June 13 that he expects the comet to reach visibility to the unaided eye about three weeks before the November 28 perihelion date. In November, ISON will pass very close to the bright star Spica and the planet Saturn, both in the constellation Virgo. These bright stars might help you find the comet. At perihelion, the comet will come within 800,000 miles – 1.2 million kilometers, or about one sun-diameter – of our sun’s surface. If all goes well, and the comet doesn’t fragment, the terrific heating Comet ISON will undergo when it’s closest to our parent star might turn the comet into a very bright object. It may also form a long comet tail around this time. There has been some mention that Comet ISON could even become a daylight object, briefly. Remember, though, at perihelion, Comet ISON will appear close to the sun on the sky’s dome (only 4.4° north of the sun on November 28). Although the comet will be bright, it’s likely that only experts who know how to look near the sun, while blocking the sun’s glare, will see it.

December 2013. This is likely to be the best month to see Comet ISON, assuming it has survived its close pass near the sun intact. The comet will be visible both in the evening sky after sunset and in the morning sky before sunrise. As ISON’s distance from the sun increases, it’ll grow dimmer. Comet expert John Bortle wrote on June 13:"

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here's hoping it hangs in there when near the sun!

[RGinNJ]

1. I can't wait,

got my 6" scope all programed.

[bananas]

2. Art Bell is returning in September, too!

Coincidence? Or has he been traveling on a "Saturn-Like Object"?