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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Yeah, that paper and this one - www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... - give some details (I was co-author on both). In short: comet loses dust chunk; chunk falls apart; chunks of the chunk fall apart; chunks of the chunks of the chunk fall apart... etc... aka "cascading fragmentation".

sciencedirect.com

Fine-scale structure in cometary dust tails II: Further evidence for a solar wind influence on cometary dust dynamics from the analysis of striae in comet C/2011 L4 Pan-STARRS

Striated features, or striae, form in cometary dust tails due to an as-yet not fully constrained process or processes. Using STEREO-B SECCHI HI-1 inst…

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Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

What a beauty! This is comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) passing through the field of view of the LASCO C3 coronagraph. It wasn't for certain whether it would survive it's closest approach to the sun on January 13th, but it did and delivered us a spectacular show! #comet #C2024G3 🔭

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Individual curves are here: lasco-www.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=... I could probably plot them... As for the original purpose of them... 🤷 I can ask some of the retirees what the thinking was. PUNCH images would look a lot like C3 Clear, but with a wider fov.

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Yes!! Plus... SOHO was actually "lost" for ~3 months in '98, spinning out of control, and effectively frozen solid. The recovery was nothing short of miraculous! A great account of it can be found in "Saving SOHO", linked via: soho.nascom.nasa.gov/about/Recove...

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Yep, that processing is equally fantastic. It's all fantastic! 😊

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Here's the last frame in the sequence, minus the mp4/streaming compression. Still a tad over-exposed in my processing, but certainly much better than the default processing we see on the SOHO site.

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

As many have pointed out, the LASCO images on the SOHO website are saturated. So this is the result of my own algo for processing them. And I will echo my sentiments from yesterday: This. Comet. Is. RIDICULOUS! 🤩😍 ☄️🔭☀️

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Yeah there's a lot going on in these images - I don't want to speculate too much on exactly what. This is a particularly special comet for sure, though. And we will absolutely miss LASCO when it's gone ☹️

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

AAARRGHHH!!!!! 🤬😖😫 Yes it should. Sigh.

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

I really, REALLY can't get over just how beautiful this comet is in our LASCO images! I mean, I've seen more than a handful of comets in this data over the years (~5,200 to be exact - not that I'm counting...) But I've really gotta say... this might be the pick o' the bunch right here. WOW 😱😍☄️☀️🔭

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Terry Lovejoy @cometguy.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) Jan 13.715, 2025 UT- Processed from images courtesy of SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory). An RGB image was created by mapping the color channels to images acquired with different filters using SOHO's LASCO C3 camera.

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

No problem! The wikipedia article is pretty good: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2024_... Be skeptical of media sources (some are great, others less so), and always feel free to reach out with questions!

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Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️ @craig.deforest.org · 13/01/2025

This has me really excited for the comet viewing we will do with PUNCH once we launch in a few weeks. Our inner field of view limit matches LASCO C3, but our outer field of view extends out six times farther — to 45 degrees from the Sun! ☀️🛰️🔭

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

☹️ Worth a shot! One day, hopefully we'll have a sungrazer we can all see in the daytime!

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

That's still unknown. It's possible, but the LASCO cameras don't have the kind of resolution to tell us that. We might have clues in the next few days... Maybe...

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Yeah I don't think it's quite naked eye. It's like vmag -2.5 or so. LASCO images look amazing tho!

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

I've seen several images from folks capturing it during the daytime, so it is *technically* possible! Just of course take all the kind of precautions you'd expect to take when pointing magnifying optics near the Sun...😵😬 And report back if you get it! 😊

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Truly a stunning tail on this comet, as seen by our @esa.int / NASA SOHO/LASCO camera! 😍☀️🔭☄️

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Short animation of C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) in the Blue filter on our ESA/NASA SOHO/LASCO C3 camera. ☀️🔭 Seeing lots of beautiful striations in the tail! 😍

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cosmos4u.bsky.social @cosmos4u.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Four views of comet ATLAS today: from soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtim... (SOHO LASCO C3 at 18:54 UTC today), x.com/dermuehle/st... (dito; deep red filter -> almost no saturation), www.facebook.com/groups/32578... (from the ISS) and www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=... (from the ground, in daytime).

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Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

We have another super bright comet (C/2024 G3 Atlas) making an appearance in LASCO C3 imagery! ☀️☄️

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David Dickinson @astrodave.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

The Comet Observer’s Data Base (COBS) currently lists the comet at magnitude -3.7 ‘with a bullet’. Petr Horálek snapped this view of the comet at sunrise on January 11th over Spisske Podrhadie, Slovakia:

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

Comet G3 ATLAS looking great in the raw Blue filter LASCO C3 images! ☀️🔭

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Maik Meyer ☄️ @comethunter.de · 11/01/2025

The comet has been imaged during the day by Nick James, Chelmsford, UK. See groups.io/g/comets-ml/... Elongation ~8°. Max mag expected on Jan 12/13. Note: Never look directly at the Sun with the naked eye or with any unfiltered optical device, such as binoculars or a telescope! ☄️🔭 #CometWatch

CCD image of C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) taken at daytime on Jan 11, 2025, by Nick James, Chelmsford, UK. Positive (top) and negative (bottom) noisy image with a comet and a short tail clearly visible.

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

G3 ATLAS is now entering LASCO C3! ☀️🔭🛰️ Judging by the saturation spikes, it's at the upper end of our brightness estimates (maybe mag -1 or so? Just eyeballing, so could be off on that). Anyway, follow along over the next few days: soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtim...

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

Qicheng - do you just need the SOHO spice kernel for 2025? That's here: soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/ancilla...

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Yep, the ground station was affected (safety-wise, not directly) so the SOHO telemetry couldn't be collected. My understanding is that we should see data flowing again today. Unclear if we lost any data tho

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Still don't know what to expect with G3. I suspect (as some others do) it has disrupted, and likely won't fare well. In principle, it could reach vmag -3 or so, but that depends very much on its current Level of Chunkiness: ~one chunk: 😀🥳 a few bigs chunks: 😐 lots of chunks: ☹️ bazillion chunks: 😭💀 🤷

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Transits through the SOHO LASCO C2 and C3 fields of view in 2025 are now posted: sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/transits_2025 Huge thanks as always to Sungrazer Project contributor (superstar!) Worachate Boonplod for compiling the list/graphic. Of note: C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) enters LASCO C3 on Jan 11! ☀️🔭☄️

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Oh, this is really interesting! The concept of "did comets provide Earth's water?" has always been one of the Big Picture questions for comet science. It was a surprise when data implied the answer was "probably not", but now it seems the case is re-opened... 🤓☄️ bsky.app/profile/momm...

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

I'm excited for yet another coronagraph! What sort of limiting magnitude are you anticipating?

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Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Today is the 29th launch-iversary of SOHO, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory! Nearly 29 years and counting of solar monitoring and science is absolutely incredible. Forever thankful for SOHO and the teams continued hard work keeping the observatory alive for analysis and research. ☀️

SOHO on the Atlas II-AS (AC-121), Cape Canaveral Air Station, 2 December 1995. SOHO was launched on 2 December 1995, 03:08 EST (08:08 UT). Image from ESA/NASA.

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Antares and M4 are center-stage in SOHO/LASCO C3 today. Milky Way turns up later this month ☀️🔭 soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtim...

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 01/12/2024

Given the incoming Administration, I'm guessing there won't be any Federal agencies on here any time soon for fear of retaliation from certain individuals 🫤

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

(Perihelion was 11yrs ago today -- the entire passage was, of course, several days long)

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Eleven years ago today 😳 Comet ISON certainly captured the attention of a global audience! Sadly it didn't survive, but the memories live on! ☄️☀️🔭

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Should be entering the LASCO C2 field of view very soon. And no, there's still absolutely no hope it'll survive past the Sun. It will already be an extended (and furiously sublimating) rubble pile. Nice while it lasted tho! ☄️☀️🔭 soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtim...

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

And zoomed in on the comet ☄️ Aside: I can never find a good mp4 setting that gives good results for posting LASCO image sequences. This drove me nuts on Twitter, and it's the same here. It's all down to how they compress the data for streaming. If anyone has any recommendations...?

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Here's the data we have so far showing the new (soon-to-be-vaporized) sungrazing comet in our LASCO C3 field of view. Lots of beautiful CME's kicking off too! 😍 See for yourself at the SOHO movie theater: soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/Theater/

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

The new sungrazer continues to perk up! Lots of solar activity overnight too, and we seem to have a moderate particle storm in the images (all the white "snow"). These are relativistic (i.e. near speed of light) particles blasted out by solar flares/CMEs*, that reach the spacecraft within ~minutes

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Spoiler, for those of you who are new to this: there is approximately 0.000% chance of this comet surviving past the Sun. It's very small (maybe 10 - 20 meters?) and may already be mostly a rubble pile. But we can at least admire its demise as it unfolds

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Something to 👀. New sungrazing comet in ESA/NASA SOHO/LASCO C3, found last night by citizen scientist Zesheng Yang. It should get pretty bright -- maybe Vmag 5 or so? Right now it's hard to spot, but I promise it'll be easy to see by tomorrow. ☄️☀️ Follow along: soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtim...

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

I don't have a whole lot of time to post on here (or the Other Place) but when fun stuff turns up in our data, you'll no doubt see me emerge from under my rock with some pretty pics. I'm also happy to take Q's about our images, either in replies or whatever the DM equivalent is here

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Karl Battams @sungrazercomets.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Hey there! 👋 For those that don't know me from the Other Place, I'm a scientist involved in heliophysics space missions, but with an emphasis on observations of comets & asteroids from those missions. So I Tweet...🤔 ...Bleet? 🤷... mostly stuff like this👇 (Comet McNaught in 2007, NASA STEREO-A)

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