Is ISON alone?

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The Oort cloud /ˈɔrt/[1] (named after Jan Oort), or Öpik–Oort cloud,[2] is a hypothesized spherical cloud of predominantly icy planetesimals that may lie roughly 50,000 AU, or nearly a light-year, from the Sun.[3] This places the cloud at nearly a quarter of the distance to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun. The Kuiper belt and the scattered disc, the other two reservoirs of trans-Neptunian objects, are less than one thousandth of the Oort cloud's distance. The outer limit of the Oort cloud defines the cosmographical boundary of the Solar System and the region of the Sun's gravitational dominance.[4]

The Oort cloud is thought to comprise two separate regions: a spherical outer Oort cloud and a disc-shaped inner Oort cloud, or Hills cloud. Objects in the Oort cloud are largely composed of ices, such as water, ammonia, and methane.

Astronomers believe that the matter composing the Oort cloud formed closer to the Sun and was scattered far out into space by the gravitational effects of the giant planets early in the Solar System's evolution.[3] However, citing the Southwest Research Institute, NASA published a 2010 article that includes the following quotation:


We know that stars form in clusters. The Sun was born within a huge community of other stars that formed in the same gas cloud. In that birth cluster, the stars were close enough together to pull comets away from each other via gravity.[5]

It is therefore speculated that the Oort cloud is, at least partly, the product of an exchange of materials between the Sun and its sister stars as they formed and drifted apart.[5]

Although no confirmed direct observations of the Oort cloud have been made, astronomers believe that it is the source of all long-period and Halley-type[citation needed] comets entering the inner Solar System and many of the centaurs and Jupiter-family comets as well.[6] The outer Oort cloud is only loosely bound to the Solar System, and thus is easily affected by the gravitational pull both of passing stars and of the Milky Way itself. These forces occasionally dislodge comets from their orbits within the cloud and send them towards the inner Solar System.[3] Based on their orbits, most of the short-period comets may come from the scattered disc, but some may still have originated from the Oort cloud.[3][6] Although the Kuiper belt and the scattered disc have been observed and mapped, only four currently known trans-Neptunian objects—90377 Sedna, 2000 CR105, 2006 SQ372, and 2008 KV42—are considered possible members of the inner Oort cloud.[7][8]

en.wikipedia.org...

note/reminder-
The Oort cloud /ˈɔrt/[1] (named after Jan Oort), or Öpik–Oort cloud,[2] is a [color=gold] hypothesized spherical cloud of predominantly icy planetesimals that may lie roughly 50,000 AU, or nearly a light-year, from the Sun. [color=gold] 1 is not challenging its existence, just sharing that its a hypothesized Celestial structure... as are others


And not centering totally on ANY Specific name of HYPOTHETICAL Celestials, consider:

Tyche (/ˈtaɪki/) is the nickname given to a hypothetical gas giant located in the Solar System's Oort cloud, first proposed in 1999 by astrophysicists John Matese, Patrick Whitman and Daniel Whitmire of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.[1][2] They argue that evidence of Tyche's existence can be seen in a supposed bias in the points of origin for long-period comets. More recently Matese[3] and Whitmire[4] re-evaluated the comet data and noted that Tyche, if it exists, should be detectable in the archive of data that was collected by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope.[5][6] However, several astronomers have voiced skepticism of this object's existence.[2][7] Analysis over the next couple of years will be needed to determine if WISE has actually detected such a world or not.[8

note/reminder-
Tyche (/ˈtaɪki/) is the nickname given to a [color=gold] hypothetical gas giant located in the Solar System's Oort cloud, first proposed in 1999 by astrophysicists John Matese, Patrick Whitman and Daniel Whitmire of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

[color=gold] sharing this hypothetical data to consider allow the potential of hypotheticals being real, further takes conscious if allowed to deeper consider other lol @ celestial unspoken ofs as of now as to allow better un agitated frequency transmissions on the hypothetical unspoken of, yes..

OT..

An incoming comet that may well turn out to be the "comet of the century" could create an unusual kind of meteor shower, scientists say.

When Comet ISON passes by the Earth this year, it is possible that the dust sloughed off by the comet's tail will create an odd meteor shower when the planet passes through the stream of tiny particles that once were a part of the comet's tail.

"Instead of burning up in a flash of light, they [the particles] will drift gently down to the Earth below," light, they [the particles] will drift gently down to the Earth below," University of Western Ontario meteor scientist Paul Wiegert said in a statement. [See Photos of Comet ISON]

The specks of dust will be travelling at a speed of 125,000 mph (201,168 km/h), but once they hit the Earth's atmosphere, they will slow to a halt, according to Wiegert's computer models.

[color=gold]
Because of this, observers on the ground probably won't be able to see the meteors as they fall through the atmosphere in January 2014, Wiegert added.

www.space.com...

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1 wonders how this shower would effect Flora/Fauna if in direct contact, as its seldom observed that meteor showers come in contact direct with Flora/Fauna and the contact is gentle...

To conclude to 1 this is a very interesting Celestial object(s) to have come from a hypothetical location Oort cloud for the first documented time, maybe it exist -that which gets lol d @ , and so may the images come in. As far as related associates of or Companions if so they should be visible as Jupiter "filters" and Mars repels if that's the case.

NAMASTE*******

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
1 wonders how this shower would effect Flora/Fauna if in direct contact, as its seldom observed that meteor showers come in contact direct with Flora/Fauna and the contact is gentle...

Actually, that is not true. There is a constant rain of fine cometary particles.

It has been estimated that 100,000 tonnes of extraterrestrial material reach the Earth's surface every year. It can be anything from fine dust to metallic masses weighing many tonnes.
Extraterrestrial material that falls towards the Earth is classified by size. The majority of this material is in the form of tiny particles called micrometeorites. They fall continuously, and arrive unnoticed.
Meteors or 'shooting stars' are often seen in a clear night sky. They are larger dust particles and small rocky fragments, many no more than a gram in weight, which are burnt up by friction as they fall through the Earth's atmosphere.

Source: Oxford University

What is special about this "meteor shower" is that all the micro-meteoroids are from a single source - Comet ISON. The dust that rains down all the time is from 100's of thousands of comets that have been passing through the same space that Earth passes through for billions of years.

So life here on Earth is very used to having extraterrestrial material raining down on it.

Originally posted by FireballStorm

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
1 wonders how this shower would effect Flora/Fauna if in direct contact, as its seldom observed that meteor showers come in contact direct with Flora/Fauna and the contact is gentle...

Actually, that is not true. There is a constant rain of fine cometary particles.

It has been estimated that 100,000 tonnes of extraterrestrial material reach the Earth's surface every year. It can be anything from fine dust to metallic masses weighing many tonnes.
Extraterrestrial material that falls towards the Earth is classified by size. The majority of this material is in the form of tiny particles called micrometeorites. They fall continuously, and arrive unnoticed.
Meteors or 'shooting stars' are often seen in a clear night sky. They are larger dust particles and small rocky fragments, many no more than a gram in weight, which are burnt up by friction as they fall through the Earth's atmosphere.

Source: Oxford University

What is special about this "meteor shower" is that all the micro-meteoroids are from a single source - Comet ISON. The dust that rains down all the time is from 100's of thousands of comets that have been passing through the same space that Earth passes through for billions of years.

So life here on Earth is very used to having extraterrestrial material raining down on it.

FireballStorm yes you are correct and please excuse 1 for the un clarity. As you shared yes there is constant cosmic particulates that fall or micro-meteoroids and they have been as you have shared. The interesting point to 1 is that you picked up on also was how its from 1 concentrated source & the fact that is will be known to have a mass exposure as the dust particles fall.

Further do you think there would be any difference from this concentrate exposure as opposed to the usual cosmic surrounding mix exposure that has been exposing many for long periods here. Or do you feel its nothing to consider FireballStorm ? thanks for your input within the thread as well your data share is appreciated. OUTTA BOX CT mind panspermia upgrade came/comes to mind when first heard of its acknowledged presence. but you know how the CT mind can go surfing down the rabbit hole...

NAMASTE*******

Comet ISON will pass very close to our ecliptic on or about November 4th 2013 on its first pass in towards the sun. How much debris will follow it in, how big is the debris and what if this comet breaks apart on or near our ecliptic as it nears the sun when we pass through the same area on or about Jan 15 2014?

Originally posted by whatnext21
Comet ISON will pass very close to our ecliptic on or about November 4th 2013 on its first pass in towards the sun. How much debris will follow it in, how big is the debris and what if this comet breaks apart on or near our ecliptic as it nears the sun when we pass through the same area on or about Jan 15 2014?

As far as the micro-meteors in regards to the dust debris goes whatnext21, it seems the dust particles discharge amounts in relation to Jupiter's pass was estimated :

NASA's Swift spacecraft caught sight of the speeding comet in January when the ball of ice and dirt was discharging more than 112,000 pounds (50,802 kilograms) of dust every minute as it passed Jupiter. Wiegert made his calculations by using that data to understand where the dust might end up on Earth's orbit.

So that is its estimated discharged rate as its near Jupiter now when it nears EA*RTH in fall the amount may increase or decrease depending on SOL influence and or planet moon "pulls" on the comet material.


to add

"Don't expect to notice," NASA officials said of the shower in a press release. "The invisible rain of comet dust, if it occurs, would be very slow. It can take months or even years for fine dust to settle out of the high atmosphere."

All hope for a brilliant show might not be lost, however. The dust from ISON could create "noctilucent clouds" — icy night-shining clouds above the Earth's poles that glow blue.

"Electric-blue ripples over Earth's polar regions might be the only visible sign that a shower is underway," NASA officials said.

As far s it separating the possibilities exist, but shall we see thanks for taking time to ask some important questions, your input is appreciated whatnext21..

NAMASTE*******

You are welcome and personally, I think we are going to see a bit more than dust when it passes just my opinion, I am not an astrophysicist, but could they be saying we will only see dust to calm the masses. I guess if fireballs start happening regularly in January 2014 then the particles would be a little bigger than was stated by NASA. Guess we will have to wait and see.

reply to post by whatnext21


1 also feels there will be an interesting visual observation from EA*RTH as well... If not already being observed with the best telescopes now Pluto only has 5 moons so yes will be keeping an eye/ear as it nears. As it comes in from the hypothetical Oort cloud disturbance area.

Another tidbit.

Link

Wiegert notes another curiosity: “The shower is going to hit our planet from two directions at once.” When Earth passes through the debris stream, we will encounter two populations of comet dust. One swarm of dust will be following the Comet ISON into the sun. Another swarm will be moving in the opposite direction, pushed away from the sun by solar radiation pressure. The streams will pepper opposite sides of Earth simultaneously. “In my experience, this kind of double whammy is unprecedented,” says Wiegert.

Unprecedented, so no other comet has done this?

Sky watchers should probably be alert, too. The odds of seeing anything are low, but Comet ISON could prove full of surprises.

Full of surprises, oh goody, we all like surprises don't we?

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13
Further do you think there would be any difference from this concentrate exposure as opposed to the usual cosmic surrounding mix exposure that has been exposing many for long periods here. Or do you feel its nothing to consider FireballStorm ?

Well, how much of ISON's dust reaches Earth is still up for debate, and as I reported in my own ISON thread, at least one researcher thinks that ISON's dust trail will be too far away for anything significant in terms of visible meteors. However, because of the small size, and because the solar wind pushes ("solar radiation pressure" is the correct term for the process) small particles more than it does larger particles, it could be that a small amount reaches Earth.

I very much doubt that we would get a concentrated burst of dust though, and even if we did, it's nothing to worry about. Even in an extreme case I don't think it would be a significant increase in the amount of dust that Earth receives on an annual basis. It's certain that we have received concentrated bursts of dust from various comets in the past, and likely quite recently too (decades probably), but since computer modelling of dust trails is a very recent advance, we would not have known about it.

The dust from ISON is probably very similar to the dust from many many other comets - comets (and their cousins asteroids) are the left over building blocks of our solar system, so their composition is not too far off that of the planets including our Earth.

Quick Facts
Size: 3-4 miles across
Discovered: September 21, 2012
Speed: 47,000 mph toward the sun

Link

Originally posted by whatnext21
How much debris will follow it in, how big is the debris and what if this comet breaks apart on or near our ecliptic as it nears the sun when we pass through the same area on or about Jan 15 2014?

If ISON were to break apart the pieces would follow the same path as ISON takes. Visible meteors occurring has already been pretty much ruled out since Earth is too far from ISON's dust trail, so large pieces are even less likely. As I mentioned in my previous reply to Ophiuchus 13, solar radiation pressure (which sometimes pushes meteoroids into the path of Earth) does not have much effect on large objects.

Researchers also take into account the gravitational effects/perturbations of the larger planets that might affect the orbits when they calculate the orbits of meteoroids/comets, so we can be sure that any large objects are not in danger of making close approaches to Earth. No fireball storms this time I'm afraid!

Originally posted by whatnext21
Another tidbit.

Link

Wiegert notes another curiosity: [/color=gold] “The shower is going to hit our planet from two directions at once.” When Earth passes through the debris stream, we will encounter two populations of comet dust. One swarm of dust will be following the Comet ISON into the sun. Another swarm will be moving in the opposite direction, pushed away from the sun by solar radiation pressure. The streams will pepper opposite sides of Earth simultaneously. “In my experience, this kind of double whammy is unprecedented,” says Wiegert.

I find these additions also very interesting good data share whatnext21

seems this will be an interesting event for science as well...