He shared some photos and a recap about his vigil for Comet ISON — once touted as the "comet of the century." (He did not get any takers to join him, seeing as he would need to search the skies starting around 4:30 a.m. in some freezing weather this past week.)
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In the first photo (above) — from 1st Avenue and East 4th Street — Arcturus and Spica are hanging high, and in the second — outside the playground — there is a big swath of empty sky between Spica and the planet Mercury, just where Comet ISON was plunging toward its rendezvous with the Sun.
How something only a mile or so in diameter was supposed to be visible, and also supposed to survive a close brush with our star, I could never explain. And ISON has confounded the scientific world with its complex and unpredictable demise.
It disappeared on Thanksgiving Day, and then reappeared that evening, and now is said to be fading out. It did not "go gentle into that good night," but kept flaring up, its fatal burns a surprising display, just not one that we could get into position to share in the neighborhood.
Updated: Here's a feature on Davis The Wall Street Journal.
5 comments:
I am no astronomer but even under the best of circumstances it was never contemplated that this object would be visible from the middle of light-swamped Manhattan, was it? From this area you can see maybe 5 percent or less of the celestial objects that are visible from less light polluted areas nearby, say Harriman State park. Was this comet really supposed to blaze like Venus?
Gee, I wish I was a comet buff.
I love the telescope Guy! Whenever I see him outside the Bean on East 3rd with his telescope it brings me a little joy. Through his telescope I once saw the most amazing view of Saturn, vivid rings and all...I wish Grieve would get that interview guy to do one of those resident profiles/Q&As on him. I know nothing about him and I would love to know more...
8:50 nailed it!
I'm going to 3rd what 8:50 said!
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