Cancel ISON’s funeral
Some part of the comet seems to have survived the Sun
We thought comet ISON had been mostly vapourised during its passage behind the Sun. We thought it had succumbed to a brutal death, ripped apart by heat and tidal forces greater than any of us can imagine. But something has survived — the latest reports indicate that a chunk of the nucleus has has made it out the other side. ISON seems to have succeeded in its crazed solar skydive, but only just.
ISON, or C/2012 S1 or Nevski-Novichonok as it’s known by some, was born during the very earliest days of the solar system. It missed out on becoming part of the Sun itself, then it missed out on becoming part of any of our planets, or even a moon. Like so many of us, ISON was last to be picked for the football team, and was instead relegated to the lonely Oort cloud — a spherical gathering of icy rocks about a light year from the Sun but still (loosely) subject to its gravitational pull.
There it stayed for approximately 4.5 billion years — about a third of the lifespan of the Universe, quietly orbiting in the inky blackness. But one day something happened. For reasons unknown, ISON took a dive towards the Sun, perhaps just because it was shoved by its Oort companions, or perhaps in a final, glorious attempt to prove itself as worthy of attention.
Mankind wasn’t even the first to spot ISON. An automated asteroid-discovery computer named CoLiTec has that honour. The comet came to our attention for the first time on 24 September 2012, and soon after we were able to discern its vital statistics — a nucleus two kilometres wide, and a trajectory that took it dangerously close to the Sun.
To begin with, only astronomers took notice. But as ISON approached Earth, the media began to take notice of all the astronomers jumping up and down and gesturing wildly at the sky. The New York Times was first to call it the “Comet of the Century”, and others followed, adding the bold (if inaccurate) claim that it’d be 15 times brighter than the Moon. ISON, like a human cannonball, had succeeded in getting the world’s attention for its daring solar flyby.
In the hours that preceded the grand event, mankind began to get jittery. Would the comet survive? Twitter filled with images showing its Icarus-like trajectory. ISON disappeared from our view as it got too close to the Sun’s glare to see.
Mankind waited, holding its breath. The hours ticked by. What would happen?
But then something emerged. The astronomers took to their telescopes, and early reports weren’t good. Media organisations across the world pronounced the comet dead, a mere cloud of dust. “Hold on,” said others. “Wait a moment. What’s that?”
Sure enough, it appears that something survived. We’re not quite sure yet what that something is — whether it’s a scorched fragment of ISON’s nucleus, as Space Weather put it, or a stream of debris. We’ll know more in time as Nasa’s solar observatories get a closer look at it.
Meanwhile, whatever’s left of ISON will whip back past Earth on 26 December, 2013 — just as you’re going for a brisk Boxing Day walk, or tucking into the turkey sandwiches. When you do, take a moment to look up at the sky and remember ISON and its ballsy dive through the Sun’s atmosphere. You’ll never see its remains again.
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