Comet ISON is due to pass within 800,000 miles of the Sun on November 28th. If it survives this close encounter, then it should become a bright object in the early morning and evening sky when viewed from the northern hemisphere.
Early indications from students processing data from NASA’s Swift satellite, estimate Comet ISON’s size to be around 3 miles in diameter.They have reached this conclusion by observing the amount of ice and dust emitted from ISON’s surface as it falls through space toward the Sun.
Comet ISON was discovered on September 21st 2012 by Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, two Russian Astronomers of the ‘International Scientific Optical Network’. At the time of discovery, ISON was over 584 million miles (6.29 AU) from the Sun.
