Comet Ison
A city-based space research start-up will send up high-altitude, helium-filled rubber balloons to study comet ISON, which is making its first trip to our galaxy from the Oort Cloud region of the Milky Way.
The comet was discovered on September 24, 2012, by eastern European and Russian astronomers. Faint, with magnitude of 18.8, when it was discovered, it will make its closest approach to the Sun at a distance of 730,000 miles (12 lakh km), on November 28. The comet will be at its brightest that day.
Dhruva Space, India’s first small satellite start-up located at Hosakerehalli in the city, is supporting the Indian Institute of Astrophysics to study the characteristics of the comet, using high altitude rubber balloons filled with helium that will be launched on November 24.
“Along with the scientific instrument, an engineering payload (will be launched) to track the path of the balloon as it rises up to 40 km, reaching upper stratosphere of the Earth. It will take two hours for the balloon to reach the upper stratosphere,” says Narayan Prasad, director of Dhruva Space.
The comet was discovered Vitali Nevski of Vitebsk, Belarus, and Artyom Novichonok of Kondopoga, Russia, on CCD images with a 0.4-m f/3 Santel reflector of the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) near Kislovodsk, Russia. Later, astronomers at Remanzacco Observatory in Italy confirmed the comet’s presence.
Sripathy Hadigal, a scientist from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, says: “At the time of its discovery, comet ISON was 625 million miles (100 crore km) from Earth, in the constellation of Cancer. At 584 million miles (93.9 crore km) from the Sun, the comet was shining at the magnitude 18.8 on a scale used by astronomers to gauge how bright sky objects are.” (Brighter objects have a lower number). This is about 1,00,000 times fainter than what the human eye can see.
According to NASA, the comet passed the frost line, some 230 to 280 million miles (37 crore to 45 crore km) away from the sun, around July-August this year. The comet began getting brighter as frost covering it began evaporating due to radiation from the Sun.