Great Comets from Humble Origins & Eyes on ISON

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Great Comets from Humble Origins & Eyes on ISON
Dr. Frank Summers, Space Telescope Science Institute

Comets can be one of the most amazing sights in the heavens, with bright, naked-eye comas and tails stretching across half the sky. The most spectacular comet appearances are called “great” comets, but such an occurrence is infrequent enough that it is also nicknamed a “comet of the century.” In preparation for the Thanksgiving Day perihelion passage of Comet ISON, along with its great possibilities, it’s a proper time to examine the humble origins, from the most rural parts of the solar system, of these briefly blazing celestial visitors.

Recorded live on Novenber 11, 2013 at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD, USA

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