First photo's of Ison taken from Mars

At last NASA has released the first photo's of Ison taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter!
Using the HiRISE camera NASA's MRO took four photo's of Ison from a distance of 13.8 million km (8.5 million miles) on the 29th of September as Ison made her approach to Mars. The photo below is an enlarged image of one of the photo's, the first of Ison taken by MRO while orbiting Mars. The grainy image shows Ison as the blob of light in the centre.

Ison image taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

Alan Delamere and Alfred McEwen, HiRISE researchers gave the follow statement in a press release:
HiRISE researchers Alan Delamere and Alfred McEwen explained in a news release:

Based on preliminary analysis of the data, the comet appears to be at the low end of the range of brightness predictions for the observation. As a result, the image isn’t visually pleasing but low coma activity is best for constraining the size of the nucleus. This image has a scale of approximately 8 miles (13.3 km) per pixel, larger than the comet, but the size of the nucleus can be estimated based on the typical brightness of other comet nuclei. The comet, like Mars, is currently 241 million kilometers from the Sun. As the comet gets closer to the sun, its brightness will increase to Earth-based observers and the comet may also become intrinsically brighter as the stronger sunlight volatilizes the comet’s ices.

Ison image's taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera 29/09/2013 (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)

NASA's MRO using it's HiRISE camera is thought to have captured more images as Ison reached it's closest point with Mars yesterday, hopefully they will be releasing these images soon. Unfortunately NASA has been caught up in the US government shutdown, so we are unable to predict when we will get to see them. We hope this situation is sorted out quickly, but until then these images have really wetted our appetite for the picture's to come!

NASA mission's still operating.......for now.

Yesterday was the day we had all be waiting for, the day Ison made it's closest approach to Mars. With 16 NASA craft pointing at Ison we were expecting some of the most in depth comet data ever to come streaming in, along with the possibility of the first ever image of a comet from another planet, supplied by the Mars Curiosity Rover!

Unfortunately for reasons we don't quite understand, the U.S government has gone in to shutdown, which in turn has affected NASA. Just as we were expecting the data to come streaming in, NASA went offline.
Anyone visiting NASA's home page will be greeted with the following page.....

The message shown on NASA's Homepage

But don't worry, NASA has not completely shutdown, all Mars missions are still operating!
Our source tell us that all missions that are operated  by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Applied Physics Laboratory are still running. These missions include Curiosity, Opportunity, Odyssey, MRO, Cassini, Dawn, Juno, Spitzer, Wise Messenger, New Horizons, the Deep Space Network and all Voyager missions.

JPL is not part of NASA, they are run by the California Institute of Technology, while APL is part of the Johns Hopkins University. Although the organisations will not receive any money from NASA, both have enough funds to keep the missions operating for the time being. JPL and APL have cut all non-essential services in an effort to keep the missions running, but admit that they will be reviewing the situation on a weekly basis.

While it is great news that the missions are still operating, at least for now, there is of course a knock-on effect for the mission updates. NASA requires both JPL and APL to submit all press release's to them so NASA headquarters can review them before publication, as NASA is directly affected by the US government shutdown this will not be happening.
We hope this problem can be sorted out quickly and we will keep you update on any developments as soon as we hear.

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!

Ison update 30/09/2013

These are the current co-ordinates for Ison at 18.45 GMT  30/09/2013

Co-ordinates: 09h 34m 06.4s,   17* 40'  08.9"
Distance from Sun: 247,607,969 km
Distance from Earth: 322,707,837 km
Magnitude: 11.12

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

NASA Prepares for Ison's flyby of Mars

Tomorrow see's Ison reach it's closest approach to Mars. Ison is going to come within just 10,460,730 km of Mars, six times closer than it will get to Earth!

There are currently 5 active Mars missions which will be turning their attention towards Ison, 2 rovers and 3 orbiters. The best equipped to study Ison are NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and ESA's Mars Express Orbiter (MEO).

Artists impression of Ison from the surface ofMars

Mars Reconnaissance is equipped with the largest telescope ever taken in to deep space at 20 inches, however it was designed with surface observation, rather than imaging comets! Like wise Mars Express original purpose is also terrestrial mapping and comes equipped with the very impressive HRSC Camera. Between them MRO and MEO should give us some stunning pictures and the most in depth data on Ison so far.  We are hoping to get much more accurate data on her size, the larger she is the more likely she will survive her encounter with the Sun at the end of November.
What's more as she passes Mars she is warming up more causing her tail to grow and increasing her coma. With all these orbiters and rovers pointed in her direction, we should get a fascinating glimpse in to how chunks of ice evolve and grow into the magnificent comets we all know!

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

All of this is just a small part of the research being conducted on Ison. A grand total of 16 NASA craft will be observing Ison from space along with the Hubble space telescope, 4 ESA spacecraft and every observatory on Earth! Ison is without doubt the most study comet there has ever been, and we are extremely excited to find out what secrets will be unlocked!

Ison Location Update 28/09/2013

These are the current co-ordinates for Ison at 19.25 GMT  28/09/2013

Co-ordinates: 09h 29m 59.8s,   18* 03'  41.1"
Distance from Sun: 253,134,203 km
Distance from Earth: 331,329,671 km
Magnitude: 11.25

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

NASA to luanch balloon to study Ison

NASA has annouced they are launch a observation balloon to monitor Ison this weekend.

BRRISON to scale with the Washington monument 

The balloon, called "BRRISON"  ( Balloon Rapid Response for Ison) will be launched from NASA's Columbia Scientific Ballon facility in Fort Sumer, New Mexico. At around 204 metre (671 feet) this helium filled polyethylene balloon is capable carrying up to 3,600 kg and reaching an altitude of 37,000 metres (120,000 feet) for approximately 11 hours.

Andy Cheng, principal investigator said "By ascending above 99.5% of the Earth's atmosphere, BRRISON will be able to study the materials within the comet," ......... "It's possible that water and organic chemicals on comets may have played an important role in the evolution of life on Earth."

BRRISON's Mission objectives:

• Develop and demonstrate gondola and payload systems for a balloon-borne platform designed to achieve planetary science objectives.
• Observe comet ISON in the near-infrared, near ultra-violet and visible wavelength ranges.
• Through these observations, measure CO2 and H2O emissions and the ratio of CO2/H2O.
• These measurements will be used as vital diagnostics of the comet’s origin and journey through our Solar System.

• How does the composition of Oort Cloud comets compare to Kuiper Belt comets?
• What are the chemical processes that lead to complex organic molecules in regions of star and planet formation?
• Were there systematic chemical or isotopic gradients in early solar nebula?
• How did Earth get its water and other volatiles?

BRRISON Facts

   

BRRISON's Gondola and instruments

The BRRISON ballooncraft is made of two primary components.

First is the large, stratospheric helium (He) filled balloon, also referred to as a stratospheric scientific balloon, which also serves as the “launch vehicle.”

Second is the gondola, an aluminum structure which houses BRISSON’s scientific instrument payload. The payload includes a refurbished telescope with sensors in the near-infrared, near ultra-violet and visible wavelength ranges. Additionally, a student-led payload of a high-definition camera will be used for scientific and education and public outreach purposes.

• Balloons fly above 99.5% of Earth atmosphere which results in access to spectral bands not observable from ground-based observatories (such as the Mauna Kea Observatory) or airborne platforms (such as the SOFIA aircraft).
• The height of the balloon also means that there is an absence of turbulent air mass that can degrade the quality of images being captured by the various sensors onboard the ballooncraft.
• Balloon-crafts provide access to near-space at a fraction of the cost of spacecraft missions.  Typical balloon mission development costs range from about $5 million to $10 million and typical balloon launch costs range from about $500,000 to about $1.5 million – a fraction of what spacecraft mission development and  spacecraft launch vehicles cost.
• Balloon payloads can be recovered more than 95 percent of the time.  These payloads can be refurbished and re-flown multiple times.  Plus, since the payload is still within the protection of the Earth’s radiation belts, there is no need for radiation-hardened electronics.
• Since balloon missions are developed on relatively quick time-scales (within a year or two), they are perfect training opportunities for young space engineers & scientists.