First high quality image of interstellar comet
Click for full image.
The Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea has successfully taken the first high resolution image of comet C_2019 Q4, unofficially Comet Borisov (after its discoverer), the first interstellar comet ever discovered.
The image to right, cropped to post here, is that image. It clearly shows the growth of a coma and possible tail, indicating that as it is approaching the Sun it is releasing material from its surface.
Right now the comet is visually very close to the Sun, when looked at from the Earth, making observations difficult. As in the next few months it drops towards its closest approach of the Sun, and the Earth circles around in its own orbit, the viewing angle will improve.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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Click for full image.
The Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea has successfully taken the first high resolution image of comet C_2019 Q4, unofficially Comet Borisov (after its discoverer), the first interstellar comet ever discovered.
The image to right, cropped to post here, is that image. It clearly shows the growth of a coma and possible tail, indicating that as it is approaching the Sun it is releasing material from its surface.
Right now the comet is visually very close to the Sun, when looked at from the Earth, making observations difficult. As in the next few months it drops towards its closest approach of the Sun, and the Earth circles around in its own orbit, the viewing angle will improve.
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
The image is good news but can this be taken as good news also in that this picture came from the Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea? At least they are allowing people to work there.
Ron wrote, “At least they are allowing people to work there.” [emphasis mine]
I want to note how much your comment here illustrates how far we have fallen. You think it is “good news” that this mob of protesters has “allowed” scientists to access telescopes they have a legal right to use.
Note also that this access will certainly shrink when the protesters finally get their way and TMT is officially cancelled, something I now fully expect. Once they know their mob action works, they will expand their effort to shut down all the telescopes on the mountain.
Leaving the politics aside for a moment ( on which, for a change, I’m in full agreement with everyone here!), Has this apparently extra solar comet been discovered because astronomers are now actively looking for erroneous objects, or is it pure chance that another body from outside our system has been identified?
The first option is wonderful, if these objects are so common, we get the chance to explore the galaxy without leaving our system…
The second option could be more worrying… Who is throwing large bodies towards our system?
( I will put my tin foil hat back on, and get my coat ;-) )
Lee S: Read the article that I linked to describing the discovery. It is farther down the page. The discovery was made by an amateur astronomer whose hobby is finding new comets.
There is no additional effort that I am aware of professional astronomers looking for approaching interstellar objects. The reason we are seeing more such objects is because of the improvement in the technology. That amateur was using equipment that was unavailable to professionals only two decades ago.
Robert,
I wish I could say that I was being intentionally sarcastic with my comment. I completely agree that there seems to be mob rule on Mauna Kea. At this point I don’t think there is anyway that the TMT gets guilt and agree that it is only a matter of time for before the other telescopes are shut down. I wonder if there are native people who worship the moon that will impede settlement there?
Bob, And when they have shut down the telescopes, having demonstrated their power, what is next? Only people they approve of on the mountain? This not the last we have heard of these fascists, not by a long shot. They’re only getting started. We’ll soon find that Hickam AFB and Schofield Barracks are built on “sacred land” and the military must vacate after knocking everything down. And please remove your stupid USS Arizona, whose mere presence pollutes the “sacred waters” of Pearl Harbor. And don’t tell me it’s a National Shrine, the Japanese gave the US what it deserved for its crimes against people of color – like attacking the peaceful Japanese for no cause at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.