Komet "Ison": astronomers hope buried goodbye - Spiegel Online

The comet “Ison” has its rendezvous with the sun not survive. The comet no longer existed in its current form, reports the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Katlenburg-Lindau in southern Lower Saxony. According to recent calculations, the solid core of the comet had already broken before the sun flyby into two or more pieces, said MPS spokeswoman Birgit Krummheuer.

During passage of the sun on Thursday evening there had still been active parts, the spitting dust. Therefore, besides the actual comet tail was observed a second smaller tail. Meanwhile, there no longer exists but these emissions. “Whether now at all is still something solid there, you can not say. In any case, there’s nothing left active.”

The comet nucleus originally had a diameter of several kilometers. It was made of ice and rock. “It is possible that this core is now completely dissolved under the influence of the Sun”, Krummheuer said.

Definitely not a light show

Last Thursday was “Ison” flew just under one sun diameter located at the central star. In this case, the comet extreme temperatures of approximately 2000 to 3000 degrees Celsius was exposed – and apparently lost his entire gaseous envelope

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After passing the dust tail of the comet had split in two, said Hermann Böhnhardt from MPS. A part made out of a dust particle, which were released well before the point nearest the Sun. The other part obviously contains more recent material: This was ejected during the flyby and suggests that at this time, at least a part of the core still existed and was active

.

These observations had raised hopes “Ison” but could possibly be on display at the pre-Christmas heaven. Now even this seems gone: A spectacle will definitely not give it, Birgit Krummheuer said. So now rests all hope of “Lovejoy”. This comet should be visible with binoculars until the end of the year, under good conditions, even with the naked eye.

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