2013 Comet ISON: NASA Appeals for Observing Campaign with Comet’s Near-Earth Approach
The 2013 Comet ISON will make its Sun and near-Earth approach on November and December but the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have already appealed to comet experts to form and organize an observing campaign for this particular comet.
Comet ISON's near flyby within the inner Solar System offers an extraordinary chance to examine in full detail a "sungrazer" comet. Numerous observatories and space missions are already being asked to show support in observing the comet ISON. A lot of the NASA space-based observatories and spacecraft are not designed to study the "sungrazer" comets yet they have some imaging and spectroscopic capabilities that can be used for comet ISON mission and present important scientific results.
The goal on the Comet ISON Observing Campaign is utilize resources to aid in acquiring the most useful scientific examination on the approaching comet and further continue the comet ISON observing plans at a much higher level.
Different observing teams can collect and provide noteworthy results that can help in understanding the nature of the comet as well as generating the next step or plan. Another goal on the observing campaign for comet ISON is to make the observed data available to the public.
The space missions and observatories that have accepted the proposal on Comet ISON Observing Campaign include the Keck Observatory, InfraRed Telescope Facility, National Solar Obervatory, Big Bear Solar Observatory, National Science Foundation and Hubble Space Telescope.
For the space-based mission, the SOHO, STEREO, SDO solar missions, Spitzer, Chandra, Hubble space telescopes, Deep Impact, JUNO, Mercury MESSENGER, Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter missions are planning on the Comet ISON Observing Campaigns.
Information on the Comet ISON as well as the Observing Campaign can be found on numerous web sites. The recommended sites to follow and keep with the comet's approach are Seiichi Yoshida's ISON page, the Minor Planet Center's (MPC) Ephemerides page, the MPC's Comet ISON page and the Comets-ml Mailing List which provides information on comets in general and not just ISON.
