| WHSV | - |
Comet
Ison is a body of ice that is over 4 billion years old and on
Thanksgiving, comet Ison will slingshot around the sun. Studying comets
can give scientist a look back at the past.
| USA TODAY | - |
Comet
ISON, a shopping-mall-sized chunk of dust and ice that makes its
closest approach to the sun Thursday, is refusing to show its hand.
Comet Will Slingshot Around the Sun on Thanksgiving
The sun!
Comet Ison is a body of ice that is over 4 billion years old and on Thanksgiving, comet Ison will slingshot around the sun. Studying comets can give scientist a look back at the past.
Ison is what's called a sun-grazing comet, and it's making that closest approach to the sun, called perihelion.
Not only could Ison be a brilliant light in the sky but scientists are closely watching what happens.
Alex Young is a Heliophysicist and explains how Ison is a rare comet.
"This is the first time it's been here, the first time it's going to pass the sun, and it's also going to be the last time so it's kind of a pristine comet"
Young says they've only seen about 3,000 sun-grazing comets with solar telescopes, and few come very close to the solar atmosphere. Young explains how only one comet has made it around the sun, which was comet Lovejoy.
Ison is much bigger then Lovejoy so there is a good possibility that Ison does survive the sun's energy.
Scientists can look at the comet a little more closely and they will also be able to study it's interactions with the suns energy.
NASA Scientists are excited to see what secrets this comets may reveal about our solar system.
Ison travels closest to the sun on Thanksgiving day. If it survives the trek or if the sun's force pulls the comet apart into several pieces to round the sun, it will likely be a bright object that can be seen in the sky by the beginning of December.
Young says, "Starting about December 1st we'll see it low in the sky and early in the morning. By December 17th, it should be high enough in the sky that it's roughly the location of the big dipper."
NASA scientists and many astronomers will closely be watching Ison on Thanksgiving.
They expect to find out more about what the solar system was like over 4 billion years ago.
Meteorologist Aubrey Urbanowicz will continue to post updates on our weather blog about what happens to Ison after it reaches the sun so keep checking back.
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