Comet ISON, R.I.P.

Bad news for those of us who have been looking forward to seeing Comet ISON make a spectacular and rare appearance in the night and daytime sky. As reported by spaceweather.com, Comet ISON is now just a cloud of dust following it's Thanksgiving Day brush with solar fire. Experts currently believe ISON broke apart shortly before perihelion (its closest approach to the sun).

These images from NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show the comet fading rapidly before it vanishes behind the sun's disk. It emerges as a diffuse remnant of its former self, evaporating quickly into a shadow of its former self. By the end of November 28th, Comet ISON was spent. 

As of today (December 2), the cloud of debris that once was Comet ISON is no brighter than a star of approximately 8th magnitude. Experienced astrophotographers might be able to capture the comet's fading "ghost" with a telescope in the pre-dawn sky in early December. Otherwise, Comet ISON will not be visible in the night sky this month. Now, in addition to pouring over data collected on Comet ISON as it made its way towards the sun in the past year, researchers will also be asking what exactly happened to bring ISON to its unexpectedly rapid demise.

ISON coming towards Sun (on right), and going away from Sun (on left)
(Photo by NASA)

According to the NASA website, "Throughout the year that researchers have watched Comet ISON – and especially during its final approach to the sun – the comet brightened and dimmed in unexpected ways.  Such brightness changes usually occur in response to material boiling off the comet, and different material will do so at different temperatures thus providing clues as to what the comet is made of.  Analyzing this pattern will help scientists understand the composition of ISON, which contains material assembled during the very formation of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago."