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Comet ISON on November 16, 2013
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A Glossary for Comet
Watchers
Evelyn Smith
MS in Library Science, University of North Texas (2012)
Evelyn Smith
MS in Library Science, University of North Texas (2012)
The
differences between comets, asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, & meteorites:
- A comet is a relatively small body that orbits the sun, and when it draws near the sun displays a distinctive coma, or head, and usually a distinctive tail or tails.
- An asteroid, or meteoroid, is a relatively small body orbiting the sun that lacks a coma and a tail.
- A meteor is an asteroid that is passing through the earth’s atmosphere.
- A meteorite is a meteor that has survived impact.
Space facts. (2013, July 13). Space object differences. Science Kids. Retrieved from http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/space/cometasteroidmeteoroiddifferences.htm
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Definitions
Calving: Geologists define calving as the “breaking away of a mass or block of ice from a glacier” (Anderson, 2005, K52), so in the case of a comet, calving means the expulsion of ice, rocks, and frozen gases into space.
Anderson,
S. G. (2005). Part 2—Glaciological
Topics. Tidewater Glaciers. Satellite
Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World. p. K52. U.S. Department
of the Interior. Retrieved from http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1386k/pdf/03_1386K_part2.pdf
Coma: This gaseous, spherical cloud surrounds a comet’s crust and nucleus.
Greene, Nick. (2013). Coma. Space/Astronomy. About.com. Retrieved from http://space.about.com/od/glossaries/g/coma.htm
Comet tail: The dust or ionized gases that flow from the comet's coma, or head, form the comet's tail: The dust that comes from the comet’s coma blows away from it, producing a dust tail while the solar wind pushes ionized gases away from the coma in a slightly different direction, make up a plasma tail (Comet tail, 2013, para. 2).
Comet tail: The dust or ionized gases that flow from the comet's coma, or head, form the comet's tail: The dust that comes from the comet’s coma blows away from it, producing a dust tail while the solar wind pushes ionized gases away from the coma in a slightly different direction, make up a plasma tail (Comet tail, 2013, para. 2).
Comet tail. (2013). Encyclopǣdia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/127558/comet-tail
Corona: The sun’s corona is the outer layer of plasma surrounding the sun where solar winds originate. The sun is made up of the photosphere, or the surface of the sun, the chromosphere, that transparent layer of mostly hydrogen gas surrounding the photosphere, and the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona. During solar eclipses, the sun's corona is clearly visible from earth (Goddard, n. d., para. 3).
The sun’s corona. (n. d.).
NASA’s Imagine the Universe. NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center. Retrieved from http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/mysteries_l1/corona.html
Coronal
mass ejection (CME):
a coronal mass ejection occurs when the sun ejects a huge bubble of gas
over several hours, disrupting the solar wind and potentially causing
catastrophic consequences. CME’s are
often associated with solar flares, but they can also arise in their absence
(NASA Marshall, 2012, August 14, para. 1-3).
Coronal mass ejection. (2013). Solar physics. NASA. Marshall
Space Flight Center. Retrieved from http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/CMEs.shtml
Elliptical comet: “An elliptical orbit is the movement of one body around another in an oval shaped path” (wiseGeek, 2013, para. 1). Hence an elliptical comet, like Halley’s Comet, makes an elliptical comet around the sun, returning again at times astronomers can calculate.
What is an elliptical orbit? (2013).
wiseGeek. Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-elliptic-orbit.htm
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| The moon's orbit around the earth as well as the earth's orbit around the sun are elliptical orbits. http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=6763 |
Hyperbolic
comet: “A
hyperbola is “a curve on a plane that
has two branches that are mirror images of each other. Like the similar parabola, a hyperbola is an
open curve that has no ending” (wiseGeek, 2013, para. 1). Therefore, an hyperbolic comet once it makes
its journey around the sun, heads out into space never to return.
What is a hyperbola? (2013). wiseGeek. Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-hyperbola.htm
Ionized
gases: Ionization
is a process that converts electrically neutral atoms to electrically charged
atoms. Solar radiation causes this
activity to occur with comets since high temperature ionizes the once frozen
comet’s gases through intermolecular collisions (Ionization, 2013, para. 1-4).
Ionization. (2013). Encyclopǣdia Britannica. Retrieved
from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/293007/ionization
Magnitude: These levels of brightness count downward from +20 to 0, showing ratios of brightness: The +20 is the visual limit for a 200 inch telescope; the +12 is the visual limit of a 3-inch telescope; +8 is the visual limit of 50 mm. binoculars. The unaided eye can begin to see celestial objects, like Comet ISON, at about a +6 magnitude (MacRobert, 2013, charts attached to article).
Magnitude: These levels of brightness count downward from +20 to 0, showing ratios of brightness: The +20 is the visual limit for a 200 inch telescope; the +12 is the visual limit of a 3-inch telescope; +8 is the visual limit of 50 mm. binoculars. The unaided eye can begin to see celestial objects, like Comet ISON, at about a +6 magnitude (MacRobert, 2013, charts attached to article).
MacRobert, Alan M. (2013). The stellar magnitude system. Sky
& Telescope. Track Media. Retrieved from http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/basics/Stellar_Magnitude_System.html
Naked eye: This colloquialism means seeing a distant or very small object without the help of technology to magnify it. As an astronomical reference, seeing something with the "naked eye" indicates that the observer views a star, comet, or planet without the help of binoculars or a telescope.
Metric conversions. (2013, February 8). Retrieved from http://www.metric-conversions.org/length/miles-to-kilometers.htm
Website allows users to “swap units” converting temperatures, weight, length, area, volume, speed, and time to both metric and English units of measurement.
Naked eye: This colloquialism means seeing a distant or very small object without the help of technology to magnify it. As an astronomical reference, seeing something with the "naked eye" indicates that the observer views a star, comet, or planet without the help of binoculars or a telescope.
Naked eyes. (n. d.).
Tools of Cosmology. Retrieved
from http://www.aip.org/history/cosmology/tools/tools-nakedeyes.htm
N00b: This slang, which comes from video game players, is a pejorative term meaning new.
N00b: This slang, which comes from video game players, is a pejorative term meaning new.
N00b. (2013).
Urban Dictionary. Definition 4.4. Retrieved from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=noob
Nucleus:
Similar to the center of a cell, The core of a comet is its nucleus, composed of frozen gases, water, and dust.
Greene, Nick. (2013). Nucleus. Space/Astronomy.
About.com Retrieved from http://space.about.com/od/glossaries/g/nucleus.htm
Oort cloud: At the end of the solar system, this giant shell of icy bodies forms an "icy crust" that encircles all that's inside (Redd, 2012, para. 1). Comets, like Comet ISON, whose orbits around the sun take thousands of years, come from the Oort Cloud while periodic comets, like Halley’s Comet, which comes around once a century, come from the Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy particles in the neighborhood of Pluto (Redd, 2012, para. 3-4).
Oort cloud: At the end of the solar system, this giant shell of icy bodies forms an "icy crust" that encircles all that's inside (Redd, 2012, para. 1). Comets, like Comet ISON, whose orbits around the sun take thousands of years, come from the Oort Cloud while periodic comets, like Halley’s Comet, which comes around once a century, come from the Kuiper Belt, a ring of icy particles in the neighborhood of Pluto (Redd, 2012, para. 3-4).
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| http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question40.html |
Redd, Nola Taylor. (2012, July 2). Oort cloud:
The outer solar system’s icy shell.
Space.com. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/16401-oort-cloud-the-outer-solar-system-s-icy-shell.html
Perihelion: The closest point in a comet or planet’s orbit around the sun is its perihelion; the point that it is farthest away from the sun is its aphelion. In Greek, peri means “near”, and apo means “away from” while helios means “sun” (NESTA, 2012, para. 2).
Perihelion: The closest point in a comet or planet’s orbit around the sun is its perihelion; the point that it is farthest away from the sun is its aphelion. In Greek, peri means “near”, and apo means “away from” while helios means “sun” (NESTA, 2012, para. 2).
Perihelion and Aphelion. (2012). Windows to the
Universe. National Earth Science
Teachers Association (NESTA). Retrieved from http://www.windows2universe.org/physical_science/physics/mechanics/orbit/perihelion_aphelion.html
Solar radiation: The sun ejects hydrogen, helium, carbon, and oxygen particles that travel with extremely high energy into space (Nahar, 2010, p. 1). This intense heat, in turn, melts the frozen cores of comets.
Solar radiation: The sun ejects hydrogen, helium, carbon, and oxygen particles that travel with extremely high energy into space (Nahar, 2010, p. 1). This intense heat, in turn, melts the frozen cores of comets.
Nahar, Sultana N. (2010). Effects of solar
radiation. 12th North America Bangla
Literature and Culture Convention 2010 (NABLCC10). Retrieved from http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~nahar/papers/Nahar-nablcc10.pdf
Solar wind: Solar wind is the plasma of charged protons, electrons, and heavier ionized atoms that the sun throws out at very high speeds. Solar winds drive the tails of comets and shape the magnetic fields around planets (Cosmicopia, 2012, para. 1).
Solar wind: Solar wind is the plasma of charged protons, electrons, and heavier ionized atoms that the sun throws out at very high speeds. Solar winds drive the tails of comets and shape the magnetic fields around planets (Cosmicopia, 2012, para. 1).
Solar wind. (2012, May 11). Cosmicopia. NASA. Retrieved from http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/sw.html
Sublimation: This process changes a frozen solid into a gas without passing through a solid state (Swinburne, n. d., para. 1).
Sublimation: This process changes a frozen solid into a gas without passing through a solid state (Swinburne, n. d., para. 1).
Sublimation. (n. d.). Cosmos.
Swinburne University of Technology.
Retrieved from http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/s/sublimation
For More McGinley Memorial Blog Pages on Comets:
Follow Comet ISON’s Daily
Progress; Comet ISON’s Sky Watch
Journal. (Revised 2013, November 18).
Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2013/11/follow-comet-isons-daily-progress.html
Coma ISON Quick Reference Web
Directory: Direct Links to Comet ISON Photos. (2013, November 18). Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2013/11/comet-ison-quick-reference-web-directory.html
Meteors, Asteroids, & Comets:
Beyond Wikipedia: Harbingers in the Sky.
(Revised 2013, November 8).
Retrieved from http://evelynelainesmith.blogspot.com/2013/03/meteors-meteorites-asteroids.html
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