Will comet's dance with sun be a spectacle or a dud?

In an article posted yesterday on AZCentral by reporter Anne Ryman, SESE professor Erik Asphaug offers insight into the celestial phenomenon, comet ISON.

As we are sitting down to enjoy our turkey dinner on Thursday, comet ISON will be sling-shotting around the sun. Comets are dark, icy objects that originate in the outer solar system and travel in long orbits around the sun.

Discovered by Russian astronomers using the International Scientific Optical Network, or ISON, the comet’s future depends on whether it survives a pass close to the sun’s broiling surface. That should happen at noon, Arizona time, on Thanksgiving Day.

Astronomers say the ISON comet may still make for a spectacular show in early December. Or it could be a dud; an overhyped spectacle that fizzles out from the sun’s heat and gravity.

“The thing that makes comets really exciting is you don’t need a telescope to see these things,” said Erik Asphaug, a professor in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration.