Comet Ison: A Welcome Sight in 2013

2013 is already off to an exciting start because of the news of Comet Ison visiting Earth's orbit sometime later this ear. Comet Ison was detected by amateur astronomers in 2012 and based on the early observations, it looks like Ison will be quite bright by the time it reaches naked eye visibility from Earth. Right now, Ison is somewhere near Jupiter and won't make it to Earth until late November of 2013. The only problem Ison might run into in the near future is our Sun.

If a comet gets near our sun, often the ice and other frozen matter that comprise the comet start to melt or off-gas into space. If Ison gets too close to our Sun, it could be destroyed or have its path altered by gravity. However, the closer it gets to our Sun, the more breathtaking it could become as a visible object in the sky. Some scientists have even speculated that Ison could end up being brighter than a full moon.

There is an historical connection here as well. In 1680, people on Earth glimpsed a great heavenly object that was almost certainly a comet. It was described by many cultures in historical texts across the globe. It's possible that Comet Ison could well be the Great Comet of 1680. Comets do return from time to time as they behave like they have been in a slingshot around our solar system (think Halley's Comet).

Humans have long had a problem with comets. For most of our history as a species, history records that many civilizations saw comets as signs of impending doom. Comets were sent by the gods as a warning, or in some cases to bring terrible events on Earth. Although sometimes comets were seen as bringers of good news or the birth of a great person. The fact of the matter is that comets scared the heck out people because they messed up the normally predictable sky that humans had mapped for centuries. In other words, people looked up, saw something that wasn't supposed to be there, and then blamed all their woes on it. Correlation, right? That crazy thing is in the sky at the same time there was a plague. They must be related, right?

Modern science helps us see that lines of thought such as this are outdated and incorrect. A comet in the sky has as much to do with natural events on the planet as a raccoon has to the construction of a Ferris wheel. We can learn so much about our solar system and the beginnings of the universe from a comet, as they are leftover chunks of rock and ice from way back when. Plus, they are a reminder that nature can be a gorgeous thing to behold as long as we approach it with curiosity and a desire to learn rather than fear of the unknown. Comets, like so many other things around us, provide us with information that help us understand and process our world.

Comet McNaught, 01.08.07