Comet PANSTARRS (C/2017 S3)

APPROACHING GREEN COMET EXPLODES: A comet that could become visible to the naked eye in August has just exploded in brightness. Amateur astronomer Michael Jäger‎ of Austria reports that Comet PANSTARRS (C/2017 S3) brightened 16-fold during the late hours of July 2nd, abruptly increasing in magnitude from +12 to +9. He took this picture of the comet's expanding green atmosphere shortly after the outburst:

"The gas cloud around the comet's nucleus is about 4 arc minutes wide," says Jäger‎. That means the comet's atmosphere is 260,000 km in diameter, almost twice as wide as the planet Jupiter. These dimensions make it a relatively easy target for backyard telescopes.
Comet PanSTARRS is falling toward the sun from the Oort cloud, a vast reservoir of fresh comets in the distant outer solar system. It has never visited the inner planets before, and, as a result, no one can say what will happen when its fragile ices are exposed to solar heat as it approaches the sun in August. Previous estimates of the comet's brightness max out at magnitude +4--that is, barely visible to the unaided eye from dark-sky sites. Additional outbursts could boost its visibility even more.

The comet was discovered on Sept. 23, 2017, by the PanSTARRS telescope on the summit of the Haleakalā volcano in Maui. PanSTARRS's primary mission is to detect near-Earth asteroids that threaten our planet. In the process,it sweeps up variable stars, supernovas, and comets like this one. With almost a year of data in hand, astronomers have been able to nail down the comet's orbit. Click on the image to launch an interactive 3D visualization from JPL:
Comet PanSTARRS is approaching the sun on a hyperbolic orbit--a narrow open-ended path that will ultimately fling it back to the outer solar system. At perihelion (closest approach to the sun) on August 15-16, the comet will be inside the orbit of Mercury, blasted by solar radiation at point-blank range. What will happen then? Stay tuned.
FIREWORKS ON THE SUN: The face of the sun may be devoid of spots, but the edge of the sun is brimming with activity. "While folks in the USA are getting ready to celebrate the 4th of July with fireworks and BBQs, our sun is displaying some fireworks of its own in the form of a nice prominence," reports Bill Burnett, who sends this picture from Hamilton, Montana:

"The prominence is located on the NW edge of the sun," he says. "I photographed it using an 80mm ED Refractor equipped with an H-alpha filter--a type of safe filter tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen."
Prominences are, essentially, clouds of hot plasma held above the sun's surface by magnetic fields. They are most photogenic when they appear near the edge of the sun, allowing them to be photographed against of the canvas of black space beyond. This prominence is more than 50,000 km tall and at least three times as wide--dimensions that make it an easy target for backyard solar telescopes. If you have one, take a look!

http://spaceweather.com/

Commenti

  1. В Интернете много информации об этой комете, однако сообщений о том, что может быть значительное увеличение активности Солнца из-за сближения с кометою, в Интернете нет. То, что Солнце будет бурно реагировать на прилет нежданной гостьи сомнений у меня не вызывает. Значительная активность Солнца обязательно приведет к повышению температуры воздуха из-за роста излучения солнечной энергии. Не исключено, что температура воздуха может резко подняться на 10 и более градусов, а это уже опасно для жизни человека. Если бы это событие происходило зимой, то негативного воздействия от повышения температуры не было бы. К сожалению данное событие будет происходить в самое жаркое время года. Будем надеяться, что гостья из космоса не принесет нам серьезных изменений климата. Тем не менее нужно быть готовым к самым неожиданным последствиям ее посещения.

    RispondiElimina

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