Categories: CometsISON

Say Goodbye to Comet ISON (for now): Timelapse and Image Gallery

A last look at Comet ISON before dawn on November 23, 2013 from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Credit: CFHT/CometISON Twitter feed.

Comet ISON is heading towards its inexorable close pass of the Sun, which will occur on November 28, 2013. And while we’ve been enjoying great views from astrophotographers, that luxury is probably over as of today, as the comet is just getting to close to the Sun — and its blinding glare — for us to see it. But while we won’t be able to see it from Earth, we’re lucky to have a fleet of spacecraft that will be able to keep an eye on the comet for us! The STEREO spacecraft has already taken images of ISON hurtling towards the Sun; the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) will start observations on November 27. Then, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will view the comet for a few hours during its closest approach to the Sun, and the X-Ray telescope on the Hinode spacecraft will view Comet ISON for about 55 minutes during perihelion.

Will Comet ISON survive its close pass and emerge brighter than ever? Only time will tell. You can keep track of what is going on with ISON here on Universe Today, as well as at NASA’s Comet ISON website, the Comet ISON Observing Campaign website, and there will be a special Hangout on Google+ during perihelion on Nov. 28.

Above is a gorgeous timelapse of ISON from the Teide observatory in the Canary Islands on Nov. 22nd, 2013. See more images and videos below.

Above is a screenshot from the live camera views from the Canada France Hawaii Telescope webcam. You can see a live view from their webcam any time at this link.

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A montage of images of Comet ISON, taken from January-May and then September to late November. Credit and copyright: Efrain Morales/

Comet ISON seen on November 22, 2013 from Corvalis, Oregon, USA. Manual alignment of 20 frames of 4 seconds each in Deep Sky Stacker. Credit and copyright: A Nartist on Flickr.

Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) in the morning twilight, above centre, with Mercury above the trees at left of frame. Taken from home in southern Alberta, November 21, 2013, using the 135mm lens at f/2.8 and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 1600 for stack of 5 x 4 second exposures, tracked with the iOptron SkyTracker, with the ground from one exposure to avoid blurring from the tracking motion. Credit and copyright: Alan Dyer/Amazing Sky Photography.

Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) plus possible fragmentation or disconnect event on Nov 21, 2013, taken from New Mexico. Credit and copyright: Joseph Brimacombe.

A glimpse of ISON from the Netherlands on November 21, 2013. Credit and copyright: Fred Kamphues.

Comet ISON and Spica together during Full Moon on November 18, 2013, seen from Payson, Arizona. Credit and copyright: Chris Schur.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/