Comet Ison Roars Through Leo
In the early morning of October 25, 5:45 a.m. CDT, a scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, using a 14” inch telescope captured this image of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), which is brightening as it approaches the Sun. The comet shines with a faint green color just to the left of center; the diagonal streak right of center was caused by the Italian SkyMed-2 satellite passing through the field of view. At magnitude 8.5, the comet is still too faint for the unaided eye or small binoculars, but is an easy target in a small telescope.
