All looking interesting, but worth noting that there are data gaps from SOHO, so we don't get to see constant live imagery. I think it records constantly, but can't transmit to Earth constantly, so we may have to wait a bit for all the images.
Cheers for the welcome guys , and cool that Comet Lovejoy survived! just so I can use the smiley... must be pretty that near the sun... Don't suppose Comet Amy survived though.
We have to wait until 17:45 (E Aus) to get the next SOHO updates. It looks like periodically communication with SOHO is poor due to the loss of the high-gain antenna in 2003. Every so often communications are a bit more limited, and unfortunately now is one of those times (see wiki article and the sungrazercomets twitter feed). No such problems with SDO of course. Am looking forward to the next update of LASCO C3!
EDIT - oops, am still getting used to converting from UT to Aussie T - SOHO's not online until 19:45 E Aus time, according to sungrazercomets.
1700UT: I'm going to hope he doesn't mind me doing this, and steal a quote here from highly-respected astronomer John Bortle: "I trust that most here appreciate that we are witnessing one of the most extraordinary events in cometary history."
Let that sink in a minute, because he is absolutely correct. This is not simply "news-worthy", or even "of great interest"; this is indeed competely extraordinary.
Sungrazing comets, particularly those of the Kreutz-group, have fascinated astronomers for decades, and no doubt terrified civilizations of the past, as their orbits hurled them through the solar atmosphere, resulting in a brilliant daytime illumination of these enormous 'dirty snowballs'. There is arguably no other object in the solar system that goes through such an intense experience as one of these comets. For days now we have been witness to such a beautiful object racing through the STEREO, SOHO and now SDO and PROBA images, blasting through the solar corona, and miraculously re-emerging, albeit with much less of a tail than it started with. And whereas sungrazers of the past have been lost at least temporarily, if not permanently, in the Sun's glare, thanks to an amazing fleet of sun-watching spacecraft we have now been enthralled by this entire passage without a single hour passing by unwitnessed. Purely for the spectacle of the event, and the way it has unfolded before our eyes over the internet, this comet has sealed its place in the history books.
But there is so much more to this than just the spectacle. We have already obtained unprecedented scientific data from five different spacecraft, and I'm very optimistic that over the coming days we will get to add a sixth spacecraft to that list when Hinode analyze their data. The result is an almost overwhelming catalog of visual, narrow-band filtered, extreme ultraviolet, and spectroscopic data of a comet experiencing the most extreme environment the solar system has to offer. We will likely learn about its mass, its physical size, its composition, the size of its dust and dust production rates, and so much more. Objects like this can also provide us with a tremendous amount of information about the solar wind and conditions in the solar corona, which in turn allows us to gain more understanding of the Sun as a driver of "Space Weather" at Earth (it's one of the reasons my group is interested in sungrazing comets).
So I could not agree more with John, and I hope that all of you who are watching these movies are indeed appreciative of just how incredible this has been!
Awesome footage this morning of comet Lovejoy surviving its encounter with the sun. You must be feeling very proud of your little comet Terry !
Is it posible that it will now become visible from earth ?
And here is my newest image of the comet taken just before noon today (Dec 17.06 UT). Tough object to get being so close to sun (and not visible visually). With 350D + C8 (stopped to 2") + 14 x 1/320sec exposures I managed register the coma and a trace of the tail.
I am hopeful of a nice binocular comet low in the dawn around christmas time.
And here is my newest image of the comet taken just before noon today (Dec 17.06 UT). Tough object to get being so close to sun (and not visible visually). With 350D + C8 (stopped to 2") + 14 x 1/320sec exposures I managed register the coma and a trace of the tail.
I am hopeful of a nice binocular comet low in the dawn around christmas time.
Terry
That’s amazing that you can pick up an image in the middle of the day Terry.
What altitude would you expect it to be when it becomes visible?
I am trying to visualize its position in relation to us. Having gone around the sun is it moving away from or towards earth ?
I admire you dedication in finding this comet