Comet ISON Awareness Briefing Coming Soon to Our World – Fall 2013…perhaps April 25, 2013 Science Mission Directorate

Comets are Highly Diverse And Very Unpredictable!

Some Great Comets of the Past

An visitor from beyond the orbit of Pluto about the size of an Appalachian mountain, Comet ISON was discovered by Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok in September It's named after their night-sky survey program, the International Scientific Optical Network. Now near the orbit of Jupiter, this sun-grazing comet may be the cosmic event of the year. What is Comet ISON?

Comet ISON Potential Observations Inbound: Mars - Comet closest approach ~0.08 AU (Oct 4,2013) – Late Sept: Earth ” telescopes will be able to observe – Late Oct-Nov: Earth – Naked Eye Brightness Perihelion: Sun – Comet closest approach Nov 28, 2013, ~0.008 AU! Outbound: Earth - Comet closest approach ~0.44 AU (Jan 2, 2014) Comet-Mars Earth-Comet MVEMMVEM MVEMMVEM Inbound Outbound

From ScienceCast – “Comet of the Century”

Missions Asked to Observe Comet ISON (to date) Deep Impact Stereo SDO Juno LRO ISS MSL/Curiosity MRO BRRISON MESSENGER SOHO Hubble Chandra SWIFT Rosetta Ground-based Observatories: Keck, NASA/IRTF, Kitt Peak, Sac Peak, Big Bear Amateur astronomy clubs Comet Lovejoy as seen from the International Space Station in late

Links Dr. Kelly’s Overview: _ison.pdf Deep Impact: Stereo: General Comet information: =Comets&Display=Events =Comets&Display=Events Multimedia (coming soon) and 8

Connections Comet Pan-STARRS and ISON provide awareness to the ESA/US ROSETTA mission in where we will be orbiting around and then landing on a Comet in November 2014 – May 2015, and the NASA New Horizons mission where we will be flying by a large icy comet- like body, Pluto, on July 14, 2015!