Timelapse of images from NASA's STEREO and the ESA/NASA SOHO show Comet ISON growing dim as it passes by the Sun.
It is now clear that Comet #ISON either survived or did not survive, or… maybe both. Hope that clarifies things.
— Dr. Bruce Betts (@RandomSpaceFact) November 29, 2013
An awesome shot of ISON heading towards perihelion, as part of a timelapse available from NASA
We’ve also been speaking to our resident comet expert Gerhard Schwehm who offers his ‘quick look science’ interpretation on #ISON: (1/6)
— ESA Science (@esascience) November 29, 2013
…from my initial look at #ISON in today’s SOHO images, it seems nucleus has mostly disintegrated…(2/6)
— ESA Science (@esascience) November 29, 2013
…Will only know if part of #ison nucleus has survived by continuing observations and performing more analysis… (3/6)
— ESA Science (@esascience) November 29, 2013
…bright fan-shape implies lots of material was released & travelling along #ison orbit, not confined in a traditional tail (4/6)
— ESA Science (@esascience) November 29, 2013
…Would be interesting to learn more about composition of debris to help us piece together what’s happened, but we need more time (5/6)
— ESA Science (@esascience) November 29, 2013
Of course, we're talking about an object that's tens of millions of miles away and moving at a couple hundred miles a second, so making definitive observations takes time. As Phil Plait notes, it's going to take a bit until we get solid confirmation either way, but at this point, it appears that ISON has survived its brush with the Sun, even if it's far from its former glory.@derektmeadOur SOHO proj sci Bernhard Fleck adds “If we knew & could predict everything, I guess it wouldn't be science anymore!” :) (6/6)
— ESA Science (@esascience) November 29, 2013