An image of Comet Ison or is it really a comet?

If people are going to get excited about pictures off the Hubble website, then they might as well also take the time to the read the blog post that describes the images.

These exposures were made while the telescope tracked the stars. Because of the motion of the comet and the motion of HST in its orbit around the Earth, the comet trailed slightly relative to the stars during and between these exposures. This is not the way comets are usually observed. Normally we would track on the comet to keep it stationary in the camera during the exposure. However, in this case we wanted to produce an image of the comet against a background clearly showing stars and galaxies.

And besides, this is just another example of NASA conspiracy paranoia, as if, once again, people delude themselves into thinking that somehow NASA gets to be the gatekeeper of all astronomical knowledge.
They're not.
Quite a lot of people have images comet ISON at this point, and yes, even from telescopes in their own back yard.

Originally posted by Jahari
reply to post by cheesy

 

Another poster pointed out that taking a picture of a moving object would create those lines. If it was three dense parts of the comet reflecting light could it possibly make this effect?

i think that is a possibility, although i think a comet would generally not have a shape with such well defined lines. it is intriguing to say the least.

reply to post by slowisfast

We have that area of space mapped. If there were a body exerting enough gravity to mess with a comet flying by, we'd know about it, I'd imagine.

How do you know this is not a known and normal trajectory change?

Comets are under gravitational pull all the time, it dictates their trajectory.

I'll throw in my guess.
We're seeing brightened areas that are jets (out-gassing) of material, . That close to the nucleus, they could show up as straight lines. one jet appears to be oriented towards Hubble, so it appears more of a dot. The angle of the combined jets might explain the peanut shape of the coma (the sort of temporary atmosphere of a comet that allows us to actually see it!)

Oh I see Alfa1 found an explanation...That's a lot of scope time for a crappy image!

reply to post by alfa1


Of course because if it was something unusual NASA would be sure to tell us in their blog post.

EDIT - whatever it is or whatever the reason it's still very cool.

These exposures were made while the telescope tracked the stars. Because of the motion of the comet and the motion of HST in its orbit around the Earth, the comet trailed slightly relative to the stars during and between these exposures. This is not the way comets are usually observed. Normally we would track on the comet to keep it stationary in the camera during the exposure. However, in this case we wanted to produce an image of the comet against a background clearly showing stars and galaxies.

Just saying.....

Seems I was wrong about the trajectory change though, it is because the viewpoint of the camera changed, not because the comet actually changed course.

Originally posted by NeoParadigm
reply to post by slowisfast

 

We have that area of space mapped. If there were a body exerting enough gravity to mess with a comet flying by, we'd know about it, I'd imagine.

How do you know this is not a known and normal trajectory change?

Comets are under gravitational pull all the time, it dictates their trajectory.

I don't. I'll readily state that I'm ignorant to such matters.

I'm merely stating that it is an interesting anomaly. As of right now your ideas are as good as anyone's.

Originally posted by gotya
reply to post by alfa1

 

Of course because if it was something unusual NASA would be sure to tell us in their blog post.

I think it has been sufficiently explained by now.

reply to post by slowisfast

I'm merely stating that it is an interesting anomaly. As of right now your ideas are as good as anyone's.

Well I was wrong about that anyway, it didn't change course, the camera viewpoint changed.

Niburu...the winged planet? o_o

reply to post by NeoParadigm


Wouldn't everything else in the cameras field of view change along with it, then?

It does fit Scripture where Jesus said that mens hearts would fail them on seeing the sign in the heavens, wondering what would befall them soon.
Also, the angle of the " wings leading edges", don't fit the explanation of different shots against a star background....

I don't feel it was explained. But I'm not and astro-physist nor a photographer, so things need to explained in layman terms for me.

For example, pictures of similar effects taken of other comets. I mean proof and pictures of how it shows up commonly would be nice. After all, that is what is demanded of people recounting what they experienced personally, right? Pictures, video - some sort of proof - or its all in your head....

It's still anomolous for me, but I'm prepared for disappointment. Many things that seemed strange has been explained in acceptable way that I could except.

Cirque

Here's one where Hubble tracked on the comet, kept
it still in the frame, and allowed anything else in the image to move.
heritage.stsci.edu...

Originally posted by slowisfast
reply to post by NeoParadigm

 

Wouldn't everything else in the cameras field of view change along with it, then?

Agreed, I am contradicting myself. Let's just say I'm not sure now, maybe it did change course.

It is explained why it looks like lines though,

The color image of Comet ISON described in a previous blog post is a composite of five exposures taken on April 30, 2013. All of the images were made with the Wide Field Camera 3 UVIS instrument (WFC3/UVIS) during one orbit of Hubble around the Earth. Three exposures of 440 seconds each were made using the V band filter (technically known as F606W), which transmits yellow/green light, and two exposures of 490 seconds each in the I band filter (F814W) which transmits red and some near infrared light.

Like I said.

reply to post by NeoParadigm


If you're convinced then cool, I'm not 100 percent convinced it's a camera anomaly.

I'm not saying it's a ufo but I'm excited to see more pictures as it gets closer.

Originally posted by alfa1

If people are going to get excited about pictures off the Hubble website, then they might as well also take the time to the read the blog post that describes the images.

These exposures were made while the telescope tracked the stars. Because of the motion of the comet and the motion of HST in its orbit around the Earth, the comet trailed slightly relative to the stars during and between these exposures. This is not the way comets are usually observed. Normally we would track on the comet to keep it stationary in the camera during the exposure. However, in this case we wanted to produce an image of the comet against a background clearly showing stars and galaxies.

And besides, this is just another example of NASA conspiracy paranoia, as if, once again, people delude themselves into thinking that somehow NASA gets to be the gatekeeper of all astronomical knowledge.
They're not.
Quite a lot of people have images comet ISON at this point, and yes, even from telescopes in their own back yard.

On face value the explanation seems reasonable. However, it then also seems somewhat contrived. Their explanation makes it seem as if the photography was being performed for some artistic purpose rather than scientific. Why did they need such a picture?

Accidental post.

reply to post by gotya

If you're convinced then cool, I'm not 100 percent convinced it's a camera anomaly.

It is not an anamoly. it is what happens when you shoot a moving object with exposure times of 440 seconds.

reply to post by NeoParadigm


For those who've experienced ufology, what looks like a craft, may have others thinking up other theories, not explanations, just opinions. But for me, the perfect fit fits in with my experiences and that this walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and by golly I think its a duck!