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hier noch etwas zu Komet Ison, das Hand und Fuß hat:

08.10.2012

The web has gone abuzz over Comet ISON after NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) predicted that it could reach magnitude -11.6, or about as bright as the Full Moon. Additionally, besides being shadow-casting bright at night, the comet would be bright enough to easily be spotted during broad daylight. If Comet ISON were to become this bright, it would not be a first, but it would still be a rarity.

Needless to say, this would be the astronomical event of next year should the JPL's prediction come true.

Even right at discovery, there was wide consensus that the comet would be visible to the naked eye. However, there is a wide range to what the human eye can see in the , which left the comet with room to be a spectacular cosmic sword like the Great Comet McNaught of 2006-7 or be a barely-visible, tiny, hazy patch of sky. Now, after doing some calculations, some are predicting that Comet ISON could be the cosmic sight of the decade.

Unfortunately, there's one hitch: are famously hard to predict.

Right now (go to the September 25 archive if its disappeared), Spaceweather.com has an article on Comet ISON on its home page, and namely its potential to be another McNaught. Like what was already said here, this article reinforces the fact that comets, especially newly-discovered ones, are difficult to predict with any certainty, especially when they are so far away from Earth to the point they're not due for close approach until a year in the future.

However, there is good news on two fronts. First of all, the comet will be coming to within about a million miles of the Sun, which means that a lot of frozen ice will be evaporating, which could mean a spectacular tail, that is if the comet doesn't break apart first (think 'doomsday' Comet Elenin). Secondly, according to comet hunter John Bortle through Spaceweather, Comet ISON's path closely parallels that of the great comet of 1680, which was bright enough to be seen during the day (just like McNaught).

The best news: for once, this will be a Northern Hemisphere comet!

In the end, thought, the only way we'll be able to know what Comet ISON will do is to wait and watch.

http://www.examiner.com/article/nasa-incoming-comet-ison-could-be-as-bright-as-full-moon

MfG, AnsgarR.