[meteorite-list] The NASA Comet ISON Observing Campaign

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:24:15 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201302251824.r1PIOFhP007961_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=ison

The NASA Comet ISON Observing Campaign

In November 2013, comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) will pass the Sun at just
0.012AU (~1.1-million kilometers above the solar surface), classifying
it as a Sungrazing Comet, and potentially a spectacular one! Comet ISON
is still very far away, and thus it remains difficult to predict exactly
how bright the comet will become in November. However, there does exist
the potential for this to be one of the brightest comets of the past
century. To that end, NASA has requested a small committee of cometary
experts to be formed to coordinate an observing campaign for this comet,
under the assumption that it will become easily-visible by the latter
part of 2013. The individual members of the team are listed at the
bottom of this page.

Campaign Goals

The goals of this NASA campaign, and thus of the CIOC Team, are to
assist both ground and space-based NASA observatories, and private
observatories around the world, in obtaining the most scientifically
useful observations of comet ISON. Sungrazing comets are unique objects
that experience the most extreme thermal and gravitation forces our
solar system has to offer them. However, rarely do we get to see these
objects more than a few hours before their demise. Comet ISON offers us
the rare opportunity to study a Sungrazer in great detail, for an
extended period, and place it in the context of other comets.

Observing Sungrazers, particularly as they get close to the Sun, can
require a different approach from a scientific stand-point. Also, many
of NASA space-based observatories and spacecraft are not designed or
intended to observe comets, but nonetheless have imaging and
spectroscopic capabilities that can be adapted to this task, and return
valuable and unique science results.

We have already contacted several major observatories and space missions
asking for their support of the cometary community in observing ISON,
and as November draws near we will post individual observing plans
online. Note that the purpose of this Campaign is to facilitate,
support and encourage the scientific community to pool its resources
towards a common goal or target, and promote ongoing ISON observing
plans at a high level. To pursue specific observing campaigns, please
contact the individual observatories mentioned below. To apply for
research funding support, please contact the NASA PATM and PAST and NEO
programs, or the NSF AAG program.

We would like the entire cometary and solar community to have access to
all available observing data. At the very least, there is a great
benefit in collecting and posting representative nightly results from
the different observing teams. This should help observers plan their
next runs and quickly understand any important changes for the comet.
Thus it is the desire of the CIOC that all data and observations are
made immediately and publicly available online for use by the scientific
community. However, this is at the discretion of the individuals and
missions involved, and is not controlled by the CIOC Team.

Which missions and observatories are involved?

We are still in the process of talking to programs, but as of right now
there are several that are accepting proposals for observations.
Specifically, proposals are being accepted by the Keck Observatory,
InfraRed Telescope Facility, National Solar Obervatory, Big Bear Solar
Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope. The National Science Foundation is
also enthusiastic about observers proposing to study ISON.

For space-based mission, observing campaigns are planned by the SOHO,
STEREO and SDO solar missions; by Spitzer, Chandra and Hubble space
telescopes; and by the Deep Impact, JUNO, Mercury MESSENGER, Mars
Odyssey and Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter missions. Other missions at or on
Mars are looking into observing ISON, as are a handful of other NASA
Planetary missions. We welcome and encourage our international partners
to contact us and join in the fun!

Where can I get more information about Comet ISON? And about the Campaign?

We will soon be posting a comprehensive "guide" to ISON, so please keep
checking back for that. There are several useful websites you can follow
to keep up with the latest brightness estimates for Comet ISON. In
particular we recommend Seiichi Yoshida's ISON page
<http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2012S1/2012S1.html>, the Minor
Planet Center's (MPC) Ephemerides page
<http://scully.cfa.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/returnprepeph.cgi?d=c&o=CK12S010>,
the MPC's Comet ISON page, and the Comets-ml Mailing List
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/> (which is about comets
in general, not just ISON).

For other ISON updates, and for the latest updates about the ISON
Observing Campaign, you can follow the _at_SungrazerComets
<http://twitter.com/SungrazerComets> Twitter Feed. Once we establish a
dedicated website for the ISON Campaign, we will point to it from this
page. We also plan to establish a mailing list for information, and the
link for that too will be posted on here in the near future.

Can I join in on the Campaign? How do I do that?

Our group is focussed on primarily on encouraging and coordinating NASA
assets to facilitate Comet ISON observations, but we certainly invite
and encourage observatories from around the world to offer their
resources to the community, share their results, and enable as much
science discovery as possible. Of particular interest will be dust
measurements ("Afrho") and gas production rates (most notably water
production), and these are observations that we will encourage be sent
to the CIOC Team. Our focus will be observations in the months
surrounding perihelion, though these measurement will also be critical
in the months leading up to perihelion as they will allow us to better
anticipate the future behavior of ISON. Astrometric measurements and
brightness estimates, however, should continue to be submitted to the
MPC, and not to us. Please note that all data submitted to the CIOC will
be made publicly available. We will establish formal guidelines on
observatory participation and data submission in the coming weeks.

How bright will comet ISON be?

While this page is not meant to be an FAQ, this is by far the most
common question we get, and thus the official response of the NASA CIOC
Team is as follows:

Comet ISON has the potential to reach significant brightness, to the
point that around perihelion in late November it may briefly be bright
enough to be seen in the daytime skies next to the Sun. However, this
comet is still an unknown quantity and there certainly also exists a
possibility that this comet may not attain these levels of brightness,
and indeed could even "fizzle" before reaching us; it is still too early
to make definite predictions.

Contact us

Questions about the CIOC can be addressed to the Campaign Chair Dr.
Carey Lisse at carey.lisse at jhuapl.edu. Questions about the website, or
the SOHO/STEREO Sungrazer comets program can be sent to team member Karl
Battams at the sungrazer at nrl.navy.mil address. Please try to include
"ISON" somewhere in the subject line in order to navigate spam filters.
The actual Campaign website will have a contact form you can use.

Who's on the team?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The CIOC Team comprises the following scientists:

    * Carey Lisse (Chair, JHU Applied Physics Laboratory)
    * Karl Battams (U.S. Naval Research Laboratory)
    * Michael DiSanti (NASA Goddard)
    * Yanga Fernandez (University of Central Florida)
    * Michael Kelley (University of Maryland)
    * Matthew Knight (Lowell Observatory)
    * Ron Vervack (JHU Applied Physics Laboratory)
    * Padma Yanamandra-Fisher (Space Science Institute)

Pre-perihelion Workshop
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In anticipation of Comet ISON's appearance, a open 2-day observing
coordination workshop is planned and scheduled for August 1-2, 2013. It
will be held at JHU's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. We
will have more detailed information about that in the coming weeks.
Page last updated: Feb 21, 2013
Received on Mon 25 Feb 2013 01:24:15 PM PST