December 27, 2012
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| Image Credit: Giovanni Benintende / Shutterstock |
NB: The appearance of a major comet in the night sky had traditionally been taken to be an omen of impending end to political reigns and the beginning of a new era. The last time the Khmer people had witnessed this cosmic harbinger of sea changing event was just prior to the fall of the hated Pol Pot regime in 1979 - School of Vice
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to gaze upon the stars will be had next year by thousands of backyard astronomers who wish to catch a glimpse of the comet of the century.
Comet Ison has yet to earn its spotlight in the media, but soon enough it will be the trending topic among all the search engines.
The comet, which was discovered by two Russian astronomers, will be “the biggest star of 2013″ and “brighter than a full moon,” according to David Whitehouse, an author and astronomer.
Ison has been traveling for millions of years from the Oort cloud to reach Earth. The comet’s surface is very dark, and it is a few tens of miles across.
Whitehouse says if you jumped into the air while on the surface of the comet, you could leap 20 miles up, and it would take you over a week to come back down.
By the end of the summer next year the comet will become visible in small telescopes and binoculars. A few months later, by October, it will be passing Mars and the surface will shift, with the surface of the rock responding to thermal shock.
As the comet passes the orbit of Earth, the gas and dust geysers will gather force, and the space around Ison will become brilliant as the ice below the surface turns into gas and erupts. Once this happens, it will be reflecting the light of the sun.
By late November next year, the comet will be visible to the unaided eye just after dark in the same direction as the setting Sun. The comet’s tail could stretch like a searchlight into the sky above the horizon.
Ison will then swing rapidly around the Sun, passing within two million miles of it, which is closer than any planet ever does. The comet will be able to be seen to an “unaided eye” for months.
When Ison gets close in its approach to the Sun, it could become intensely bright, but at this point it will be difficult and dangerous to see without special instruments.
While comets can be a rare site to the backyard astronomers, Ison will not be the only space rock that will be visible next year. According to Whitehouse, another comet, called 2014 L4, was discovered last year and will be making a significant appearance in the evening sky in March and April, acting as the opening act for Ison.
Source: Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online
2 comments:
Harbinger of catastrophe? Yes, I remember when I was a young boy living at Watt Damrey Sar, Battambang, we used to wake up at 4 am in the morning after the event of March 18, 1970, to look at the comet in the sky. We lived and experienced effectively the catastrophe for our beloved country for decades.
As an old man now and having observed what the country's business is handling, as wishes of New Year, I would like to recommend politicians the followings:
- Respect opponents' rights and ensure people's right of free speech and free opinion,
- Our current constitution is rather good, it needs some amendment but not urgent. Let parliamentarian system works in full scale. For instance, Prime Minster should come to the Parliament whenever needed or requested.
- Corruption should be tackled with strong commitment and without compromise.
- Conflict of interests, cronyism and other form of business relationship should be banned in politic.
- Current judiciary system should be reformed. All judiciary system must go to training and help from experienced places is strongly recommended.
- Ensure the equality of country growth distribution to people through territoriality planning
- The next government cabinet should comprise only capable politicians, the old stuff of the party should be banned.
My prediction is CPP is going to win again but with small margin. Opposition become the real political force and more protests will occur. Please don't have this basic instinct: use negative means to curb the protests for real freedom and democracy of developing Cambodia.
Wish you all excellent 2013.
Cambodia is and already has been facing a series of grave catastrophes in many fundamental respects.
Although, I can see your point about harbinger of social change being either 'positive' or 'negative' if and when that change does come about.
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