{"id":52005,"date":"2013-08-20T09:36:28","date_gmt":"2013-08-20T13:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=52005"},"modified":"2024-02-09T11:53:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T16:53:57","slug":"comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/","title":{"rendered":"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing"},"content":{"rendered":"

What some people are calling the comet of the century will be paying a visit to our part of the solar system in November, but scientists, including UCF\u2019s Yan Fernandez, are already hard at work preparing for its arrival.<\/p>\n

Comet ISON comes from the Oort Cloud, a refuge for icy debris jettisoned by Jupiter and the other giant planets to the distant reaches of the Sun\u2019s influence back when the planets were just forming. ISON is creating quite the buzz within the space community since it is now making its first trip back toward the sun since then.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been in deep freeze for about four and a half billion years,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty exciting because it likely has some clues locked inside its nucleus about how our solar system formed. Because comets from the Oort Cloud are so old and relatively pristine, we want to take advantage of what they can tell us about our solar system\u2019s earliest days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernandez is part of NASA\u2019s Comet ISON Observing Campaign team that\u2019s been coordinating and facilitating observations of the comet since January. He is also part of another team that took the first infrared images of ISON with the Spitzer Space Telescope in June and released the pictures to the public late last month.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs it gets closer to the Sun we expect to get more detailed information than ever before about the comet,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cAnd on Thanksgiving Day, ISON will get to within only 750,000 miles of the Sun\u2019s surface, so it\u2019s going to get really hot. That\u2019s pretty fantastic. It means all sorts of materials that we can study are going to be boiling off the comet \u2013 ices, rocks, metals. For the general public it could be a-once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a really bright comet. We\u2019re hoping that in November and December you can see it with the naked eye at night right from your backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is, if ISON doesn\u2019t blow apart first.<\/p>\n

ISON, like all comets, is a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases such as water, ammonia, methanol, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These are some of the fundamental building blocks of planets. As a comet gets closer to the sun, it heats up and its outer layers evaporate away. Spitzer images revealed that ISON is gassed up, with the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in its icy outer layer already boiling away and producing a bright tail. There is a possibility that as ISON gets closer to the sun, the evaporation of ices will become so intense that they will destroy the structural integrity of the comet before observers on Earth get a clear look.<\/p>\n

Right now ISON is still too far away (well beyond Mars\u2019s orbit) to know for sure how big it is and what its make up is exactly, Fernandez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might then get a better idea of what the comet will do and how bright it might get in November, but that\u2019s one of the crazy things about comets \u2013 they like to defy predictions,\u201d he said. \u201cISON might disintegrate to nothingness, it might survive but under perform, or it might indeed be a comet-of-the-century. We\u2019ll just have to wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estimates are that ISON is less than 2 1\/2 miles in diameter, about the size of a small mountain, and that it weighs between a few billion and several trillion pounds.<\/p>\n

Should ISON remain intact come the fall, and if it seems like it will become bright enough, Fernandez said he will be organizing observation nights for the public from Robinson Observatory<\/a> on UCF\u2019s main campus. Fernandez is the observatory\u2019s director.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in the planning stages right now,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cBut if people are willing, we expect to have some opportunities in mid to late November for the public. It may mean getting up at 4 a.m. for best viewing, but we\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should ISON keep it together as it loops around the sun and boomerangs back toward the outer solar system, Fernandez says more viewing nights will be added in December. But it would still mean getting up before dawn.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have a better idea when it gets a wee-bit closer, say some 200 million miles from the Sun in early September, so stay tuned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What some people are calling the comet of the century will be paying a visit to our part of the solar system in November, but scientists, including UCF\u2019s Yan Fernandez, are already hard at work preparing for its arrival. Comet ISON comes from the Oort Cloud, a refuge for icy debris jettisoned by Jupiter and the other giant planets to…","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":52009,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[5,6,23],"tags":[982,3715,9424,7843,4361,7841],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-52005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colleges","category-community","category-research","tag-college-of-sciences","tag-physics","tag-planetary-sciences-group","tag-robinson-observatory","tag-space","tag-yan-fernandez"],"yoast_head":"\nComet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What some people are calling the comet of the century will be paying a visit to our part of the solar system in November, but scientists, including UCF\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What some people are calling the comet of the century will be paying a visit to our part of the solar system in November, but scientists, including UCF\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-08-20T13:36:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-09T16:53:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2013\/08\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"521\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zenaida Kotala\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zenaida Kotala\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zenaida Kotala\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e\"},\"headline\":\"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-20T13:36:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-09T16:53:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":741,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Sciences\",\"physics\",\"Planetary Sciences Group\",\"Robinson Observatory\",\"space\",\"Yan Fernandez\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Colleges & Campus\",\"Community\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2013\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/\",\"name\":\"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing | University of Central Florida News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-08-20T13:36:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-09T16:53:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e\"},\"description\":\"What some people are calling the comet of the century will be paying a visit to our part of the solar system in November, but scientists, including UCF\u2019s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2013\\\/08\\\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":521,\"caption\":\"These images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of C\\\/2012 S1 (Comet ISON) were taken on June 13, when ISON was 310 million miles (about 500 million kilometers) from the sun. The images were taken with the telescope's infrared array camera at two different near-infrared wavelengths, 3.6 and 4.5 microns (the representational colors shown were selected to enhance visibility). The 3.6-micron image on the left shows a tail of fine rocky dust issuing from the comet and blown back by the pressure of sunlight as the comet speeds towards the sun (the tail points away from the sun). The image on the right side shows the 4.5-micron image with the 3.6-micron image information (dust) removed, and reveals a very different round structure -- the first detection of a neutral gas atmosphere surrounding ISON. In this case, it is most likely created by carbon dioxide that is \u201cfizzing\u201d from the surface of the comet at a rate of about 2.2 million pounds (1 million kilograms) a day. Comet ISON (officially known as C\\\/2012 S1) is, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide -- some of the fundamental building blocks that scientists believe led to the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago. ISON will pass within 724,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) of the sun on Nov. 28, making it a sungrazer comet that will evaporate its ices and even its rocky dust near perihelion, revealing even more of the comet\u2019s composition. NASA is bringing to bear a vast fleet of spacecraft, instruments, and space- and Earth-based telescopes to study this rarely-seen type of comet over the next year. ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The complete list of observers is: C.M. Lisse, R.J. Vervack, and H.A. Weaver, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; J.M. Bauer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory\\\/Caltech; Y.R. Fernandez, University of Central Florida; M.S.P. Kelley, University of Maryland; M.M. Knight, Lowell Observatory; D. Hines, Space Telescope Science Institute; J-Y Li, Planetary Science Institute; W. Reach, USRA\\\/SOFIA; M. L. Sitko, University of Cincinnati; P. A. Yanamandra-Fisher, SSI; K.J. Meech and J. Rayner, University of Hawaii.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\",\"description\":\"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e\",\"name\":\"Zenaida Kotala\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zenaida Kotala\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/author\\\/zkotala\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\\\/#local-main-organization-logo\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"University of Central Florida\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing | University of Central Florida News","description":"What some people are calling the comet of the century will be paying a visit to our part of the solar system in November, but scientists, including UCF\u2019s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing","og_description":"What some people are calling the comet of the century will be paying a visit to our part of the solar system in November, but scientists, including UCF\u2019s","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/","og_site_name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF","article_published_time":"2013-08-20T13:36:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-02-09T16:53:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":521,"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2013\/08\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zenaida Kotala","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@UCF","twitter_site":"@UCF","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zenaida Kotala","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/"},"author":{"name":"Zenaida Kotala","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e"},"headline":"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing","datePublished":"2013-08-20T13:36:28+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-09T16:53:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/"},"wordCount":741,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2013\/08\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg","keywords":["College of Sciences","physics","Planetary Sciences Group","Robinson Observatory","space","Yan Fernandez"],"articleSection":["Colleges & Campus","Community","Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2013","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/","name":"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing | University of Central Florida News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2013\/08\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg","datePublished":"2013-08-20T13:36:28+00:00","dateModified":"2024-02-09T16:53:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e"},"description":"What some people are calling the comet of the century will be paying a visit to our part of the solar system in November, but scientists, including UCF\u2019s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2013\/08\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2013\/08\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645.jpg","width":800,"height":521,"caption":"These images from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope of C\/2012 S1 (Comet ISON) were taken on June 13, when ISON was 310 million miles (about 500 million kilometers) from the sun. The images were taken with the telescope's infrared array camera at two different near-infrared wavelengths, 3.6 and 4.5 microns (the representational colors shown were selected to enhance visibility). The 3.6-micron image on the left shows a tail of fine rocky dust issuing from the comet and blown back by the pressure of sunlight as the comet speeds towards the sun (the tail points away from the sun). The image on the right side shows the 4.5-micron image with the 3.6-micron image information (dust) removed, and reveals a very different round structure -- the first detection of a neutral gas atmosphere surrounding ISON. In this case, it is most likely created by carbon dioxide that is \u201cfizzing\u201d from the surface of the comet at a rate of about 2.2 million pounds (1 million kilograms) a day. Comet ISON (officially known as C\/2012 S1) is, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust and frozen gases like water, ammonia, methane and carbon dioxide -- some of the fundamental building blocks that scientists believe led to the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago. ISON will pass within 724,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) of the sun on Nov. 28, making it a sungrazer comet that will evaporate its ices and even its rocky dust near perihelion, revealing even more of the comet\u2019s composition. NASA is bringing to bear a vast fleet of spacecraft, instruments, and space- and Earth-based telescopes to study this rarely-seen type of comet over the next year. ISON stands for International Scientific Optical Network, a group of observatories in ten countries who have organized to detect, monitor, and track objects in space. ISON is managed by the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The complete list of observers is: C.M. Lisse, R.J. Vervack, and H.A. Weaver, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; J.M. Bauer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory\/Caltech; Y.R. Fernandez, University of Central Florida; M.S.P. Kelley, University of Maryland; M.M. Knight, Lowell Observatory; D. Hines, Space Telescope Science Institute; J-Y Li, Planetary Science Institute; W. Reach, USRA\/SOFIA; M. L. Sitko, University of Cincinnati; P. A. Yanamandra-Fisher, SSI; K.J. Meech and J. Rayner, University of Hawaii."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Comet in Deep Freeze Thaws as It Approaches Earth; UCF Plans Viewing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today","description":"Central Florida Research, Arts, Technology, Student Life and College News, Stories and More","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4f0fdedfa744a8bfddd06132e6ce9b5e","name":"Zenaida Kotala","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b942e6b48d92cfeb8c940ffaf4efc2f77419a530cc2bd85f06c36bbffea9b02a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Zenaida Kotala"},"url":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/author\/zkotala\/"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/comet-in-deep-freeze-thaws-as-it-approaches-earth-ucf-plans-viewing\/#local-main-organization-logo","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"University of Central Florida"}]}},"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2013\/08\/ISONnasa-e1377005595645-300x195.jpg","primary_category":5,"primary_tag":982,"author_byline":"Zenaida Kotala","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52005"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139222,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52005\/revisions\/139222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52005"},{"taxonomy":"tu_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tu_author?post=52005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}