Comet ISON Recovered - Fainter Than Predicted

An amateur astronomer in Arizona has taken the first images of Comet ISON after the comet came out from behind the Sun and became visible to earthbound observers again.  The comet has not been seen since June because of its proximity to the Sun and is only now rising early enough in the morning before sunrise to be observed.

Comet ISON by Bruce Gary, Aug 16, 2013

On August 12, 2013, Bruce Gary managed to image the comet with his 11″ Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a SBIG CCD camera.  He estimated it to be 14.3 magnitude, which is about 2 magnitudes fainter than previous predictions.  Above is an animated GIF image of the comet made with data taken a few mornings later.

Bruce’s ongoing observations of Comet ISON are here.   Sky and Telescope magazine has an article about Gary’s recovery of the comet here.

More observations than just this one will be needed to pin down the comet’s predicted light curve and brightness at its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion.)   For now, it looks like the comet will only be so-so and not as spectacular as first predicted.  For those of you who follow the electric theory of comets, then this result is not surprising, as the comet is approaching a much less active Sun whose magnetic field has weakened somewhat in the last few years.