JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Solar System
.

Three Questions About Comet ISON

Nov 25, 2013
Comet ISON appeared in the higher-resolution HI-1 camera on NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft. Dark "clouds" coming from the right are more dense areas in the solar wind, causing ripples in Comet Encke's tail. Using comet tails as tracers can provide valuable data about solar wind conditions near the sun.
Credit: Karl Battams/NASA/STEREO/CIOC

Comet ISON will reach its closest approach to the sun on Thanksgiving Day (11/28/13), skimming just 730,000 miles above its surface.

Don Yeomans, a senior research scientist at JPL, keeps a watchful eye on near-Earth objects -- asteroids, comets and other space rocks. Yeomans heads a group charged by NASA to watch for objects whose orbits bring them close to Earth.

Below is a comet ISON Q&A with Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

What is so interesting about comet ISON?

There's great interest in comet ISON for a couple of reasons. First of all, it's coming from the very edge of our solar system so it stills retains the primordial ices from which it formed four-and-a-half billion years ago. It's been traveling from the outer edge of the solar system for about five-and-a-half million years to reach us in the inner solar system, and it's going to make an extremely close approach to the sun and hence could become very bright and possibly a very easy naked-eye object in early December.

What will happen to comet ISON on Thanksgiving?

So there are three possibilities when this comet rounds the sun on Thanksgiving Day 2013 [Nov. 28]. It could be tough enough to survive the passage of the sun and be a fairly bright naked-eye object in the early morning sky in the first week of December. Or, the sun could actually pull it apart. The tidal forces could actually pull this comet apart and so it becomes several chunks rounding the sun and putting on a great show again in early December. Or, if the comet is very weak, it could break up into a cloud of dust and be a complete bust in December.

Do comets like ISON present a scientific opportunity?

There is going to be a small army of amateur and professional astronomers on the Earth, and spacecraft are going to be observing this object near the sun. So we're going to find out a great deal about what this comet is made of, and hence we are going to find out a great deal about what the solar system was like four-and-a-half billion years ago.

To learn more about comet ISON, go to www.nasa.gov/ison .

NASA's Near-Earth Object Program at NASA Headquarters, Washington, manages and funds the search, study and monitoring of asteroids and comets whose orbits periodically bring them close to Earth. JPL manages the Near-Earth Object Program Office for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

More information about asteroids and near-Earth objects is available at: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ , http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch and via Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/asteroidwatch .

News Media Contact

DC Agle

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-9011

agle@jpl.nasa.gov

2013-341

Related News

Solar System .

NASA’s Deep Space Network Welcomes a New Dish to the Family

Mars .

6 Things to Know About NASA’s Mars Helicopter on Its Way to Mars

Mars .

NASA to Host Virtual Briefing on February Perseverance Mars Rover Landing

Mars .

NASA InSight’s ‘Mole’ Ends Its Journey on Mars

Mars .

Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover to Capture Sounds From the Red Planet

Solar System .

NASA’s Juno Mission Expands Into the Future

Mars .

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Reaches Its 3,000th Day on Mars

Mars .

NASA Extends Exploration for Two Planetary Science Missions

Mars .

Celebrate the Perseverance Rover Landing With NASA's Student Challenge

Mars .

7 Things to Know About the NASA Rover About to Land on Mars

Explore More

Image .

Juno's Mission Goes On

Topic .

Solar System

Image .

A Hot Spot on Jupiter

Image .

Jupiter's Storm Oval BA As Viewed By An Artist

Image .

Two Views of Jupiter Hot Spot

Image .

A Jupiter Circumpolar Cyclone

Image .

Jupiter North Pole Detail

Video .

What's Up - January 2021

Image .

All Eight Northern Circumpolar Cyclones in 2020

Image .

Tracking Clouds on Jupiter

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors of JPL
JPL History
Documentary Series
Virtual Tour
Annual Reports
Missions
All
Current
Past
Future
News
All
Earth
Mars
Solar System
Universe
Technology
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Infographics
Engage
JPL and the Community
Lecture Series
Public Tours
Events
Team Competitions
JPL Speakers Bureau
Topics
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Stars and Galaxies
Exoplanets
Technology
JPL Life
For Media
Contacts and Information
Press Kits
More
Asteroid Watch
Robotics at JPL
Subscribe to Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Manager: Veronica McGregor
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Randal Jackson, Naomi Hartono