Comet C/2012 S1 ISON

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Comet C/2012 S1 ISON
Taken by Pete Lawrence on January 16, 2013 @ Selsey, West Sussex, UK

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Here is an animation of C/2012 S1 ISON taken through a 4-inch refractor, starting at 23h on the 15th of Jan and ending at 01h on the 16th. The comet is clearly visible moving among the stars of Gemini, in an area just to the south of Castor. Heres a direct link to the animation: http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/comets/S1_ISON/CV_ASA_C_S1-ISON-240S_L001-crop.gif

Comments

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I find the three faint satellites you captured in the vicinity of this comet more interesting!! Perhaps you could find out what they are.

Posted by amplelight 2013-01-17 09:39:16

I thought of satellites at first however, the three dots seem to be some type of reflexion in the telescope lenses. I dont feel the satellites would be in focus. Plus being closer to Earth they would reflect more light and fly by so fast you might not even notice.

Posted by Moosipher 2013-01-17 21:55:39

I know with my meade imager when tracking an object with hot pixels you will get this effect. but... there is a second very faint object in the picture that is not hot pixels. Its heading about the same trajectory. located about one inch below the top of the image and slightly ahead of the comet. you will see it pass just under a faint star.

Posted by syvy 2013-01-18 00:12:44

no i see it to its visible on ferst few images than almost disappear due to szorter exposure i think but its back again on last photos under three stars near the top of image. its move faster than ison on star background and going in angle slightly moving away from ison. mayby its another comet .

Posted by erarichi 2013-01-18 01:23:52

I also noticed that fainter, tiny smudge. About 2/3 away from the brightest star toward the brightest star in the upper right corner. All other artifacts/pixels appear to be single pixels with similar motion yet going more horizontal. That smaller smudge seems to be the same speed and trajectory as the comet. Hopefully someone can confirm or disprove its existence. Flat plane distance would put it about half million miles from the comet, I think, if I figured correctly.

Posted by geoid6 2013-01-18 01:24:09

Sorry, I did figure that wrong, closer to 1/4 million miles I believe. Again, of course, without factoring any near or far distances from line of sight.

Posted by geoid6 2013-01-18 01:27:14

Sorry again, I should have quit while I was ahead. And I shouldnt try to do a quick calculation during posting a comment! :(
Figured it was about half million miles after all. Maybe I should explain... I took the 5 arc minutes scale shown for this series of images and divided into 3600 (minutes in 360 degrees) to get 4320, then divided that number into the result of comet distance from Earth (400 million miles) converted to number of miles around 360 degrees at that distance. Or pi times 800 million (diameter centered on Earth) divided by 4320, equals 581786 (about half million miles). Probably more like 2/3 million miles or more, if the 2nd object is really near the comet. Anyway, thought I should explain what I was doing and hopefully that makes sense now. :)

Posted by geoid6 2013-01-18 02:34:20

actually, if you stare at it, you will see 4 objects following this comet, look real close

Posted by pheniks 2013-01-18 10:49:37

There is also an object following the comet..about an inch or so behind it.

Posted by SeaW 2013-01-18 13:01:33

I was just staring at it for a while and found seven objects fly through this picture...:-)

Posted by SeaW 2013-01-18 13:09:48

Was the telescope tracking the stars or the comet? The latter would explain the number of quite diverse objects seemingly following the same path as the comet, I would think.

Posted by berndb 2013-01-18 15:38:45

those 2 stars in front of the comment dim as if something was going in front of it. it is something cause it moves across the two stars, very dimly though, thoughts?

Posted by SkullField 2013-01-18 20:41:13

those 2 stars in front of the comment dim as if something was going in front of it. it is something cause it moves across the two stars, very dimly though, thoughts??

Posted by SkullField 2013-01-18 20:42:45

i marked paths of both object in gimp to see if i am right , the object as i said moving in angle moving away from ison more to the top of image , without proper mesure hard to say if its moving faster , mayby slightly . someone who now how could find orbit and confirm that faint object.

Posted by erarichi 2013-01-19 02:43:46

They are called companions and fly with the comet,Vary rare.Tune into To in to James Man M McCanneys radio show on thursdays at 6pm central on the net to learn more.

Posted by chooglin 2013-01-23 19:34:24

155 thumbs up

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