ESA's SOHO Spacecraft image of Ison

With the US shutdown there has been a lack of images coming from NASA, which is particularly disappointing as last week Ison made her closest pass to Mars. Luckily the European Space Agency (ESA) is still up and running and releasing images! The ESA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory or SOHO for short is a satellite that was launched in 1995 to study the Sun with a variety of on board instruments.Originally the SOHO mission was only going to last a couple of years but due to the amazing results it was producing it is still running today.

The SOHO craft is fitted with a special instrument called SWAN (Solar Wind ANisotrpies) which is the only instrument on board not to be pointed at the Sun, instead it looks at everything else! Swan watches the rest of the sky, measuring hydrogen that is ‘blowing’ into the Solar System from interstellar space. 

By studying the interaction between the solar wind and this hydrogen gas, SWAN determines how the solar wind is distributed. The ESA have used SWAN to detect the hydrogen in Ison's coma, which should be able to tell us how much water is being produced and at what rate. The data from SWAN should give us great new insights in to the emissions given off by sun grazing comets like Ison.

Ison captured by European Space Agency's SOHO craft using the SWAN instrument

The image above is the first image of Ison taken by SWAN to be released by the ESA, over the next few weeks as Ison brightens we should get ever more impressive pictures. Swan takes 360 degree images of space the only thing it doesn't picture is the Sun and the Earth, which are the dark spots on the image. What SWAN is photographing is the effect that solar wind has on the element hydrogen. Sounds complicated but its quite simple really, imagine you wanted to take a picture of the wind, but you cant see it. So you photograph the effect the wind has blowing dust on the ground or on the leaves of a tree, this is basically what SWAN does! Instead of dust and leaves it photographs the effect on hydrogen by the solar wind. What makes this camera particularly important for studying Ison is that because it basically photographs hydrogen, we can tell how much hydrogen is being given off by Ison, which is the main make up of a comets coma and tail. Now even we will admit that this image is not the most spectacular of Ison we've seen, but as Ison gets closer to the sun and more hydrogen is given off  her coma and tail will expand and the images by SWAN will get bigger and better and the data will be invaluable! 

Ison Location update 04/10/2013

These are the current co-ordinates for Ison at 19:00 GMT  04/10/2013

Co-ordinates: 09h  42m  53.8s    16* 48' 19.6"
Distance from Sun: 236,170,890 km
Distance from Earth: 304,987,829 km
Magnitude: 10.83

For those who don't know you can track Ison in real time from the comfort of your computer by visiting the fantastic The Sky live website

With thanks to The Sky Live

Does this Photo show jets on Ison?

On Tuesday Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes and Martinao Nicolini of the Ramanzacco Observatory in Italy managed to capture the image below using the 2 metre Liverpool telescope. One of the images appear to show what is maybe a jet from Ison. Jets are formed as a comet approaches our Sun, it begins to heat up and the ice begins to change from a solid to a gas with no liquid stage. Some of the dust is left behind as the ice melts. The dust forms a dark, protective crust on the surface of the nucleus (head) and slows the melting. In some places this layer is thinner, which allows jets of gas to burst through.

Ison captured with Mars Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes and Martinao Nicolini at the Ramanzacco Observatory, Italy.

The image is a stack of twenty, 11 second exposures and clearly shows Ison developing coma and tail which is now estimated to measure at least 3 arc minutes. This is a very promising sign that Ison is developing into the comet we have been hoping for.
Talking about the image Nick Howes said: "There was some debate as to the existence of additional jet structures on the comet. Our data analysis seems to show that some reports of this were possibly spurious, however, our one process does seem to show a possible small jet, which a 2m class instrument would be able to detect. Our analysis is undergoing additional review and peer checking with our collaborators in the USA. The scientific analysis of this comet and its inner coma is ongoing, and being monitored closely."
The team at the Ramanzacco observatory have sent the images and data to the Planetary Science Institute for further analysis, and we hope to bring an update later today!

Ison display's the welcome green glow of Cyanogen gas

There has been a few photo's popping up showing Ison with a green coma (head).
Fear not! Green is a good sign, it shows Ison coma and tail is starting to expand as it gets closer to the Sun.

But what cause's this green glow? It is a gas known as Cyanogen gas which is being released as Ison gets with in reach of the Sun. Cyanogen is normally colourless but it fluoresces green in sunlight a bit like a neon sign. Cyanogen is not just pretty it also smells of almonds, and this might ring alarm bells with those who read murder mysteries! Cyanogen is from the same family as Cyanide and is a poisonous gas. On earth we have nothing to fear what so ever but, we would advise against astronauts removing their helmets and sniffing Ison though as this could only end badly!

Ison showing her green Cyangen coma. Photo taken with a 3 inch telescope on 28/09/2113 by Michael Jaeger

Most comet's contain Cyanogen gas, the most famous of which is Hally's comet. Back in 1910 shortly after discovering the presence of Cyangen in comets people started to worry about the gas. Con-men jumped on the opportunity to sell gas masks and all sorts of pill's and potions, of course all useless! As your reading this your ancestors obviously survived Hally's visit in 1910, and again in 1986 when Hally's comet made her second visit of the 20th century! Take comfort in the fact that NO ONE has ever been harmed by Cyangen or any other gas from a comet. We are looking forward to to the show though, we predict that Ison will only get brighter and greener from here on!