Scientists are surprised, referring to a shine coming from a small part of the “Comet of the Century”, which, however, seems to be heading towards disintegration.
The ISON seems to be “injured” but “alive” after the “hot embrace” with the center of our solar system.
According to the latest data available to scientists, the ISON may have lost about 3 million tonnes and is heading towards disintegration, but so far, a small part of it continues its journey into space.
What previously caused the assertion that ISON is “dead” was the fact that initially telescopes recorded it entering perihelion, i.e. the point, where the trajectory of a body in the Solar System is located at the shortest distance from the Sun, but did not record it leaving.
However, latest photos show a glow which scientists believe to be a small part of the comet.
The calculations, based on the latest data, show that the remains of ISON will continue to glow or will just fizzle out and disappear.
“We do not even know if there is or how big the core of debris is. If so, then it is too early to say how long the comet will survive. If it survives for several days, it is still early to say whether it will still be visible in the evening sky”, refers the NASA blog.
Passing at the distance of 1.2 million km from the surface of the Sun, the ices of ISON probably evaporated at temperatures above 2,000 degrees Celsius, while the gravitational forces of the Sun exerted much pressure on the comet.
That is why the size of the piece of the comet that remains “alive” is still unknown.
No comments:
Post a Comment