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Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 60045
 United States
4/27/2006 1:52 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 1355
United States
4/27/2006 1:57 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
What's truly amazing to me, is that when S-L9 impacted Jupiter... which is where we get the phrase "string of pearls" as it was coined at that time... it was ALL over the news. Tons of coverage.
There's hardly any coverage of this event at all.
There are rumors of a D-Notice in the UK... which means write about it on pain of official punishment... censored press. There are rumors of "do not publish" orders going out in Germany as well.
Rumors. And maybe just woo-woos trying to garner attention.
But the fact still remains of the almost TOTAL absence of coverage in the media.
Not only that... when I contacted a physicist friend... he pointed me to, get this, WIKIPEDIA!!!!! for info on this comet!
The CCnet is almost totally devoid of current celestial happenings, preferring to dwell on paleo-impacts and the events or non-events directly related to them.
Could this be a case of more being communicated by what is NOT being said? |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:04 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
amateur sighting last night:
posted at:
[link to www.ukweatherworld.co.uk]
Posted 27/4/2006 12:33 Subject: RE: 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3- Update
I had yet another great session last night even though i am currently dying with the cold. I set up the 16" and 8.5" dobsonians side by side until the clouds broke and revealed a pretty good clear sky that stayed that way for the remainder of the night. With the 8.5 " i searched for comets in the late evening twilight and picked up M35. CrB had now climbed high into the eastern sky well placed out of any horizon murk so i turned my attention to the 'string of pearls' comet that is rapidly moving east ward as it approachs both the Earth and the sun.
01.10
I swept up fragment C very quickly located between RCrB and Hercules. This is a beautiful comet! The coma is tiny, compact, well condensed and of a parabolic shape on the sunward side. In the middle was a bright stellar central condensation with a slender spine 3' long running into the tail. The dust tail itself is broad and i detected it for 25 - 30' long pointing to the SW. The first 15' of tail is easy to see but the remainder needed averted vision for its full detection. I also glimpsed several streamers. This comet is looking very healthy. Mag: 7.5 Dia: 2' D.C: 7
00.56
WOW!!!! I couldnt believe my eyes when i swept up fragment B. 3 Nights ago it was a faint diffuse object with barely any CC within the coma however tonight a transformation had taken place. This comet is suffering from a bright ourburst!! The central condensation is a brillant white stellar object with diameter! The coma is fairly large and moderately condensed with a bright dust tail 15' long pointing SW. This is a very exciting fragment. I spent alot of time observing and sketching both comets. |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:12 PM | |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:12 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
Hubble Space Telescope is providing astronomers with extraordinary views of Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. The fragile comet is rapidly disintegrating as it approaches the Sun. Hubble images have uncovered many more fragments than have been reported by ground-based observers. These observations provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the demise of a comet nucleus. The comet is currently a chain of over 33 separate fragments, named alphabetically, stretching across the sky by several times the angular diameter of the Moon. Hubble caught fragment B during three days shortly after large outbursts in activity (from top to bottom: 18 April, 19 April and 20 April). Hubble shows several dozen "mini-comets” trailing behind each main fragment, probably associated with the ejection of house-sized chunks of surface material. Deep-freeze relics of the early Solar System, cometary nuclei are porous and fragile mixes of dust and ices that can break apart due to the thermal, gravitational, and dynamical stresses of approaching the Sun. Whether any of the many fragments survive the trip around the Sun remains to be seen in the weeks ahead.
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (APL/JHU), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI)
[link to www.spacetelescope.org] |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:14 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
the post above is from a europeans astronomy site, but posting hubble images
strange that our own nation can't post it's own tax funded hubble images |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:19 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
bumping to show the updated photo |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:23 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
update page from the European/Hubble Telescope site (more photos and videos at link)
[link to www.spacetelescope.org]
News - heic0605: Hubble provides spectacular view of ongoing comet breakup
27-Apr-2006: The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is providing astronomers with extraordinary views of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 as it disintegrates before our eyes. Recent Hubble images have uncovered many more fragments than have been reported by ground-based observers. These observations provide an unprecedented opportunity to study the demise of a comet nucleus.
Amateur and professional astronomers around the world have been tracking the spectacular disintegration of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 for years. As it plummets towards a close encounter with the Sun, swinging round the Sun on 7 June and heading away to begin another loop round the Solar System, the comet will pass the Earth on 12 May, at a distance of 11.7 million kilometres, or 30 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.
The comet currently comprises a chain of over 33 separate fragments, named alphabetically, and stretching across several degrees on the sky (the Sun and Moon each have an apparent diameter of about 1/2 a degree). Ground-based observers have noted dramatic brightening events associated with some of the fragments indicating that they are continuing to break up and that some may disappear altogether.
Hubble caught two of the fragments, B and G, shortly after major outbursts in activity. The resulting images reveal that an amazing process of hierarchical destruction is taking place, in which the larger fragments are continuing to break up into smaller chunks. Several dozen "mini-fragments" are to be found trailing behind each main fragment, probably associated with the ejection of house-sized chunks of surface material that can only be detected in these very high-resolution Hubble images.
Sequential Hubble images of the B fragment, taken a few days apart, suggest that the chunks are pushed down the tail by outgassing from the icy, sunward-facing surfaces of the chunks, much like space-walking astronauts are propelled by their jetpacks. The smaller chunks have the lowest mass, and so are accelerated away from the parent nucleus faster than the larger chunks. Some of the chunks seem to dissipate completely over the course of several days.
One of the European team members, Philippe Lamy from Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, France, says “When we observed the comet in late 2001 we concluded that many small, by then invisible, fragments had to be created by fragmentation to account for the missing mass. The new Hubble observations beautifully confirm and illustrate our past findings.”
Cometary nuclei are deep-frozen relics of the early Solar System, consisting of porous and fragile mixes of dust and ices. They can be broken up by many different mechanisms: be ripped apart by gravitational tidal forces when they pass near large bodies (for example, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was torn to pieces when it skirted near Jupiter in 1992, before plunging into Jupiter’s atmosphere two years later), fly apart as the nucleus rotates rapidly, crumble under thermal stresses as they pass near the Sun, or pop apart explosively like corks from champagne bottles as trapped volatile gases burst out.
"Catastrophic breakups may be the ultimate fate of most comets," says planetary astronomer Hal Weaver of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who led the international team that made the recent Hubble observations and who used Hubble previously to study the fragmentations of comets Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1993-1994, Hyakutake in 1996, and 1999 S4 (LINEAR) in 2000. Analysis of the new Hubble data, and data taken by other observatories as the comet approaches the Earth and Sun, may reveal which of these breakup mechanisms are contributing to the disintegration of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3.
German astronomers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann discovered this comet during a photographic search for asteroids in 1930, when the comet passed within 9.3 million kilometres of the Earth (only 24 times the Earth-Moon distance). The comet orbits the Sun every 5.4 years, but it was not seen again until 1979. The comet was missed again in 1985 but has been observed at every return since then.
During the autumn of 1995, the comet had a huge outburst in activity and shortly afterwards four separate nuclei were identified and labelled "A", "B", "C", and "D", with "C" being the largest and the presumed principal remnant of the original nucleus. Only the C and B fragments were definitively observed during the next return, possibly because of the poor geometry of the 2000-2001 apparition. The much better observing circumstances during this year’s return may be partly responsible for the detection of so many new fragments, but it is also likely that the disintegration of the comet is now accelerating. Whether any of the many fragments will survive the trip around the Sun remains to be seen.
Notes for editors:
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
Besides Weaver, the other members of the Hubble observing team are: Carey Lisse (JHU/APL), Philippe Lamy (Laboratoire d'Astronomie Spatiale, France), Imre Toth (Hungarian Academy of Sciences), William Reach (IPAC/Caltech) and Max Mutchler (STScI).
Image credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), M. Mutchler and Z. Levay (STScI) |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 58
United States
4/27/2006 2:27 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
My God.
That top tri-image is JUST fragment "B". |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:28 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
did you notice this quote?
"Sequential Hubble images of the B fragment, taken a few days apart, suggest that the chunks are pushed down the tail by outgassing from the icy, sunward-facing surfaces of the chunks, much like space-walking astronauts are propelled by their jetpacks. The smaller chunks have the lowest mass, and so are accelerated away from the parent nucleus faster than the larger chunks"
*the smaller pieces will be pushed down the tail of the minicomets and fragments |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:30 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
[link to www.spacetelescope.org]
yes, this is the photo of fragment B, which shows the massive number of pieces now trailing it from the last breakup |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:30 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
they say those little pieces are "house-sized" |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:32 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
Hubble caught fragment B during three days shortly after large outbursts in activity (from top to bottom: 18 April, 19 April and 20 April). Hubble shows several dozen "mini-comets” trailing behind each main fragment, probably associated with the ejection of house-sized chunks of surface material.
[link to www.spacetelescope.org] |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:32 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
B has also broken up again since these photos were taken,
as has fragment G |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 1355
United States
4/27/2006 2:35 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
So why isn't the media picking up on this show... You'd think that it would boost their ratings as we're coming up to May sweeps.
Talk about a reality show! |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 58
United States
4/27/2006 2:37 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
clear skys tonight.
I'm breaking out the telescope....living in Florida, what part of the sky should i be looking? |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 11607
United States
4/27/2006 2:39 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
Concerned now. I know this has been asked and answered again and again but I'm not sure I'm following it correctly. When is it likely that the larger fragments will pass/cross if at all? |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:39 PM | |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:40 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
the european hubble site has said that the smaller fragments will pass DOWN the tail of each minicomet
which means we may encounter some fragments if we pass through the tails of the comets in June |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:41 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
i doubt if they want the masses watching this comet continue to break up for a month to come |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 58
United States
4/27/2006 2:41 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
thanks 84505.
you getting a bit concerned about this? |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 11607
United States
4/27/2006 2:42 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
Thank you 84505. Keep up the good work BTW!  |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 2574
United States
4/27/2006 2:43 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
The media is under NSA wraps on this issue. Many people don't understand the subtleties of US Code and national security concerns. Free press hasn't been free for almost 100 years.
They will not talk about this until they are told to talk about this.
The internet was a God send.
1995 (the major implimentation of internet for public consumption) and the year 73P began to break up.
The internet is the source you need to use to find info...you just need to wade through the disinformation and bullshit to get to the data.
It's like the opening scene in the Matrix. He's on the internet blogging and studying information from "unapproved" sites.
Welcome to the end of the Piscean era and the beginning of Aquarius (information and knowledge). |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 62398
 United Kingdom
4/27/2006 2:47 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
84505, where do 'they'' say they are house sized.
have you got a link?
that pic is scary isn't it?  |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:50 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
[link to www.spacetelescope.org]
this is the page which mentions house-sized chunks
i am not worried
and I love to keep up to date on what is happening in our skies
thanks for your appreciation |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:50 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
i suppose the smaller the chunks the better
most of them would burn up in the atmosphere, but put on quite a show |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 84505
United States
4/27/2006 2:52 PM | |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 2574
United States
4/27/2006 2:57 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
Too far away to measure the size. That's why they are using generalities ("house-sized" fragments).
The picture lends weight to the fact that the disturbance to the comet was not generated by the sun. It looks like a "concussion" explosion--like it hit something or was hit by something.
Those fragments are very large, and there are many of them. My hope is that we are not seeing any expanding mass (ie. heavy dense mass expanding into larger, less dense mass). That would be a problem. As the mass increases, the energy output would push the fragments further away from the larger lead comet.
The further away from that lead fragment means that the trajectory is different from that lead fragment, and hence it will not pass in front of the earth when that fragment passes by the earth's ecliptic plane.
This picture, while beautiful, does not sit well with me. Anyone familiar with a fragmentary grenade knows what I am talking about. Frag grenades push metal around a localized region at a relatively slow speed. Those fragments are going about 60,000 to 80,000 mph! Imagine putting your silverware into a large cannon and shooting at you house from 50 feet!
This is not good. Not good at all... |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 62398
United Kingdom
4/27/2006 2:58 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
''Several dozen "mini-fragments" are to be found trailing behind each main fragment, probably associated with the ejection of house-sized chunks of surface material that can only be detected in these very high-resolution Hubble images.''
So if each frag is doing this, we're looking at many hundreds of house sized frags, all on different trajectories, yes?
Let's hope the sun does it's business on all of them! |
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Anonymous Coward
User ID: 9699
United States
4/27/2006 2:58 PM | | Re: Schwassmann-Wachmann 73P; Here's what I learned about its trajectory | Quote |
Go git them fragments once they hit, worth lots of cash! |
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