1. Comet ISON Awareness Briefing Coming Soon to Our World – Fall 2013…perhaps March 28, 2013 Science Mission Directorate 1

2. Comets are Notoriously Unpredictable! 2

3. ISON was discovered by Russian astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok in September 2012. It's named after their night- sky survey program, the International Scientific Optical Network. Now near Jupiter, this sun-grazing comet may be the cosmic event of the year. What is Comet ISON? 3

4. Comet ISON Potential Observations Inbnd: Mars - Comet closest approach ~0.08 AU (Oct 4) – Late Sept: Earth - 8-10” telescopes will be able to observe – Late Oct-Nov: Earth – Naked Eye Brightness Perihelion: Earth – November 28 Outbnd: Earth - Comet closest approach ~0.44 AU (Jan 2) Comet-Mars Earth-Comet MVEMMVEM MVEMMVEM Inbound Outbound 4

5. From ScienceCast – “Comet of the Century” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_1HdOCOJ_Q 5

6. Missions Asked to Observe Comet ISON (to date) Deep Impact Stereo SDO Juno LRO ISS Curiosity MRO BRRISON MESSENGER SOHO Hubble Rosetta Ground-based Observatories Amateur astronomy clubs Comet Lovejoy as seen from the International Space Station in late 2011. 6

7. Links Dr. Kelly’s Overview: www.lpi.usra.edu/sbag/.../TUES_1345_Kelley_msk_comet _ison.pdf Deep Impact: http://epoxi.umd.edu/3gallery/cometISON.shtml http://epoxi.umd.edu/3gallery/cometISON.shtml Stereo: http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/comet_ison/ http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=ison General Comet information: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov http://solarsystem.nasa.gov http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object =Comets&Display=Events http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object =Comets&Display=Events Multimedia (coming soon) http://eyes.jpl.nasa.gov and http://1.usa.gov/10hbpsmhttp://eyes.jpl.nasa.gov http://1.usa.gov/10hbpsm 7

8. 2014 Connections Another Comet (Comet 2013 A1) will also have a close approach at Mars in October 2014 Comet Pan-STARRS and ISON provide additional awareness to the ESA/US Rosetta mission in 2014 where we will be landing on a Comet in November! 8