Astronomy - February 2014

50 ASTRONOMY t FEBRUARY 2014

Comet ISON’s

opening act

COMET OF THE CENTURY?

C

omet ISON (C/2012 S1) first

appeared September 21, 2012,

on photographic images taken

by astronomers Vitali Nevski of

Belarus and Artyom Novicho-

nok of Russia. Since then, it has basked in

the hope fueled by enthusiastic forecasters

(“It will appear as bright as the Full

Moon!”) while simultaneously wallowing

in the mire spewed by pessimistic prognos-

ticators (“The comet will break up as it gets

close to the Sun!”). The truth as to how

bright it would be, it seemed, was going to

lie somewhere in between.

The first standout images of Comet

ISON, shown on these two pages, started

rolling in to the magazine during the fall.

They show a seemingly healthy comet with

a bright coma and a growing tail. So far, so

good. Furthermore, at press time, the

Minor Planet Center’s brightness predic-

tions for Comet ISON at maximum hadn’t

wavered in more than a month. It seemed

— in October at least — that we were all in

for a great show.

For the next several issues, we’ll print

the finest images we received during the

comet’s run. Through them, you’ll be able

to relive ISON’s entire visitation to our

wonderful world and decide for yourself

whether or not it lived up to the hype.

Michael E. Bakich is photo editor of Astronomy

and has observed more than 100 comets.

Te most anticipated comet in

decades got of to a good start.

by Michael E. Bakich

This early image of Comet ISON (arrow) shows it glowing faintly at 16th magnitude just to the upper left

of the 14th-magnitude galaxy IC 2196. The spiral to the upper right is magnitude 13.1 IC 2199. (20-inch

RC Optical Systems Ritchey-Chrétien reflector, SBIG 6303 CCD camera, 18 minutes total exposure, taken

January 16, 2013, from Kitt Peak National Observatory) DEAN SALMAN/NOAO/AURA/NSF

This image captures, in a once-in-a-lifetime lineup,

(from left to right) Comet ISON, Mars, the dwarf

spheroidal galaxy Leo I, and Regulus (Alpha [α]

Leonis). (2.6-inch Astro-Tech AT65EDQ refractor

at f/7, Canon 5D Mark III DSLR, ISO 1600, thirty

1-minute exposures, stacked, taken October 15,

2013, between 4 A.M. and 5:30 A.M. PDT from the

central Oregon coast) CHRIS LEVITAN