Starship Asterisk*

ISON, Mars, Regulus

Explanation: In order top to bottom this celestial snapshot features Comet ISON, planet Mars, and Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo, in the same frame. The scene spans about 2 degrees near the eastern horizon in early morning skies of October 15. Closest of the three, the much heralded Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) is by far the faintest at 14 light-minutes (1.7 AU) away. Mars is only slightly farther from our fair planet. About 16.5 light minutes (2 AU) away its normal ruddy color is washed out in the exposure. Regulus outshines both comet and planet from a distance of 75 light-years. Just above Regulus, the very faint smudge of light is actually the Leo I dwarf galaxy, 800,000 light-years away and almost lost in the glare of the bluish hued bright star. Comet ISON is expected to grow brighter, though. How bright is still not clear, but not as bright as a Full Moon in night skies. Estimated to be 1 to 4 kilometers in diameter, ISON's nucleus might substantially survive its very close encounter with the Sun on November 28. If so, the comet will climb back above the eastern horizon in planet Earth's northern hemisphere before dawn in early December.

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It would read better if it said:

Faintest of the three, the much heralded Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)
is by far the closest at 14 light-minutes (1.7 AU) away.

Oh, great It'll be visible before dawn, in the east. The only things keeping me from seeing it, will be sleep and trees. Why can't things be seen after sunset, in the west ARRGGGHH

neufer wrote:It would read better if it said:

Faintest of the three, the much heralded Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)
is by far the closest at 14 light-minutes (1.7 AU) away.

I agree, apart from the fact that Comet ISON was only 0.3 AU closer to us than Mars at the time, according to the numbers quoted.

Great Pic!!!

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I find it interesting that I no longer have a RANK....but my telescope SIGNATURE.....

I want to say how overjoyed I was this day to turn my pc on and find my favorite website back. I will say, yes I had a tear in my eye. APOD is the first thing I check every day when I wake up. I have missed it very much and want to give my heartfelt thank you to all that make this wonderful and uplifting site what it is.

Thank you

glad that the apod eclipse is over

Welcome Back APOD !!!

Boomer12k wrote:Great Pic!!!

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I find it interesting that I no longer have a RANK....but my telescope SIGNATURE.....

gecko

Now he doesn't have to type it every time he posts.

BEAR0700 wrote: I want to say how overjoyed I was this day to turn my pc on and find my favorite website back. I will say, yes I had a tear in my eye. APOD is the first thing I check every day when I wake up. I have missed it very much and want to give my heartfelt thank you to all that make this wonderful and uplifting site what it is.

Thank you

ditto

Welcome back! I've missed you so much! Now my day can begin right again! Hurrah, and God bless NASA!!!!!!!!!

APOD never went away; please see here: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=32210

Nitpicker wrote:

neufer wrote:It would read better if it said:

Faintest of the three, the much heralded Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)
is by far the closest at 14 light-minutes (1.7 AU) away.

I agree, apart from the fact that Comet ISON was only 0.3 AU closer to us than Mars at the time, according to the numbers quoted.

Faintest of the three, the much heralded Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)
is by near the closest at 14 light-minutes (1.7 AU) away.

neufer wrote:

Nitpicker wrote:

neufer wrote:It would read better if it said:

Faintest of the three, the much heralded Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)
is by far the closest at 14 light-minutes (1.7 AU) away.

I agree, apart from the fact that Comet ISON was only 0.3 AU closer to us than Mars at the time, according to the numbers quoted.

Faintest of the three, the much heralded Comet ISON (C/2012 S1)
is by near the closest at 14 light-minutes (1.7 AU) away. :?:

Faintest of the three, the much heralded Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) was closely the nearest at 14 light-minutes (1.7 AU) away.

Heralded, faint, close
Comet ISON approaches
Numbers confuse us

geckzilla wrote:Heralded, faint, close
Comet ISON approaches
Numbers confuse us

Oh oh. Now you've challenged Art to come up with a sonnet...

I just want to say it's great to see APOD up and running, and all of the people behind it we don't see presumably up and running again too. You were sorely missed.

YEAH, YOU'RE BACK!!!

Chris Peterson wrote:

geckzilla wrote:Heralded, faint, close
Comet ISON approaches
Numbers confuse us

Oh oh. Now you've challenged Art to come up with a sonnet...

Well, if he hadn't, then you have.
I'm looking forward to what he'll come up with.
Maybe it will be an ISONNET.

Welcome back APOD, I missed you!

What to think?
I gave up on trying to look at APOD two weeks ago when the site would not open,
Today, I thought Hooray, then looked at the Archives to find those missing days are there.
Were they there all along? Just released?
I also figured I would find an explanation, but no luck there either.

The explanation is here: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=32210

Briefly, APOD continued; it was served from its mirror and social media sites, as usual, every day of the shutdown. A link was provided at the bottom of the APOD pages on 9/29 and 9/30 as to how to follow APOD in the event of a shutdown.

If there are better ways of getting the word out (APOD has Twitter, G+, and Facebook sites, in addition to a mailing list, discussion forum, and 20+ mirror sites), please suggest it; thanks!

Welcome back homepage APOD.