ISON Comet suffers an explosion and it is visible to the naked eye - La Vanguardia

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‘comet of the century’ could disintegrate along the Sun
• Comet ISON, brighter, will be in late November

Two comets

• intensive visit Earth

A comet shine

• fifteen moons in 2013

Madrid. (EFE). – The Comet ISON , discovered in September 2012 by Russian astronomers, has been a burst of activity has significantly increased both gas production as its brightness, to the point of doing observable the eye.

This was stated in a press release the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA), which is involved in various observational campaigns designed to study the comet before and after its perihelion passage, the time of closest approach the Sun, and to analyze their characteristics and activities in detail.

comets icy small solids, suffer dramatic changes as they approach the Sun and increases the temperature: the ice is heated, evaporate (sublimate) and drag with the dust grains, which when released reflect sunlight and lead, among others, to queues.

However, it may occur more violent episodes of activity, in which the brightness of the comet suddenly intensifies, as just happened in comet ISON.

Pablo Santos Sanz, IAA researcher involved in one of these observing campaign from the IRAM 30-meter telescope, has reported an increase of about fifteen times in the sublimation of hydrocyanic acid (HCN) in just 48 hours.

Various sources, according to the IAA, also point to an increase in the sublimation of water, which does, everything, that the comet is now almost visible to the naked eye without optical instruments (in a sky with best visibility) .

C/2012 S1 (ISON) was discovered on September 21, 2012 by Russian astronomers, using a telescope of the International Scientific Optical acronym which gave name to the comet.

ISON

shows peculiarities that make it an “interesting issue”. According to estimates of its orbit, it is a comet coming from the Oort cloud, a bubble that surrounds the Solar System and are believed to consists of the remains of the nebula that gave rise to the sun and planets 4,600 million years ago.

also presents another interesting attraction: practically rub the Sun on 28 November.

During perihelion, the comet will be found only 2.7 solar radii (1.8 million kilometers) from the Sun and reach temperatures of about 5,000 degrees.

This, according to the IAA, presents “exciting possibilities”: ISON may suffer, due to heat, an intense period of activity derived not only from the sublimation of ice but also of silicates or metals, which would release large amount of dust and significantly increase brightness.

But it can also happen that due to tidal forces or the heat produced by the Sun, the core of fragmenting or vaporizing ISON end, as has happened with more than 2,000 comets included in the category of comets sungrazer (comets that border the Sun).