back to article Our Sun menaces comet 'of the century' ISON with FIERY DESTRUCTION

Skygazers are nervously awaiting the outcome of Comet Ison's impending close encounter with the Sun, which could put paid to hopes that the icy ball will put on a jaw-dropping display across the night sky. Ison is due to swing round the Sun on 28 November, coming within a mere 1.16 million km of the star's surface. Last week, …

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  1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

    I have scientific proof

    All from my "research", i.e. reading The Register.

    It's going to be the most spectacular comet ever. Superb, bright, visible in daylight, and full of fascinating scientific information to discover.

    But that doesn't matter. Because a volcano in Indonesia has spotted this event too. And is right now awaking from hundreds of years of slumber in order to fill the atmosphere with ash, and block out the pretty lights.

    1. KBeee

      Re: I have scientific proof

      But can we weaponise it?

    2. Wzrd1 Silver badge

      Re: I have scientific proof

      Sol is holding its breath in order to be ready to blow out the candle that is that oddly named comet.

      That's why the polar shift hasn't finished. ;)

  2. Mikel

    Christmas comet

    The show should peak around Christmas. Hope we get a sight.

    1. Mike Moyle

      Re: Christmas comet

      A "bright star in the East", right around Christmastime...?

      WHEEEEE! Here we go again!...!

      1. MrDamage Silver badge

        3 Wise Men

        Will be me, the BOFH, and the PFY.

        Our gifts will be the cattleprod, the shovel, and bag of quicklime.

        1. qwertyuiop
          WTF?

          Re: 3 Wise Men

          Why three? Nowhere in the Bible does it say there were three wise men; three kinds of gift are mentioned, but not the number of people giving gifts. See Mathhew 2: 1 - 12. As a firm non-believer I find this question always peplexes those who believe in the old bloke in the sky.

          1. t.est

            Re: 3 Wise Men

            True

            It doesn't even call them wise men, we read instead that they were astrologers. Something that was disgusting, and something to be extinguished in ancient the Jewish society.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    It would be nice to get a really bright comet flyby

    But I expect that Ison will evaporate flying that close to the Sun.

    Oh well, adding a couple more minutes to the Suns hydrogen supply aint nothing.

    1. Chris 244
      Headmaster

      Re: Couple of minutes

      More like a fraction of a second. Sun fuses some 640 million metric tons of hydrogen per second. Comet Ison has a mass estimate of 3.2 billion metric tons at the top end. Even if all of that mass was methane ice (which it isn't) methane is only a quarter hydrogen by mass. At most, we're looking at one second of reaction mass, likely much less.

  4. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    WOAH! Like a candle in the wind!

    That animated gif is amazing. How exactly was it obtained (how does one get the solar wind schlieren) and from what orbit?

  5. cajun

    jonathon rochelle

    2700C, isn't that twice as hot as magma? Seems odd it would survive. Fingers are crossed though.

    1. DJ 2

      Re: jonathon rochelle

      interplanetary Baked Alaska, crispy fried on the outside and creamy ice in the middle.

  6. Richard 81

    I keep reading its name as JSON.

  7. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge

    Fingers crossed

    But I fear clouds will spoil the party here.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Fingers crossed

      You fear??

      This is England, clouds, whenever there is a significant solar event, are a sodding certainty.

      1. Bonce

        Re: Fingers crossed

        "Significant Solar Event", eg. Summer

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