828,000 Mph Ice and Dust Cloud

     Cape Canaveral - Among the paparazzi chasing Comet ISON are ultraviolet telescopes, ground observatories, amateur astronomers, and professional astrophotographers.  ISON, which stands for International Scientific Optical Network, is named after the machinery a pair of Russian astronomers used to detect the comet September 2012. The comet will venture past earth at 40 million miles, but if it survives its journey around the sun, will be visible with the naked eye for up to 30 days.  "Every spacecraft that has a camera, we're turning on it," said John Grunsfeld, a NASA science mission director.  The newly launched Maven spacecraft, en route to Mars, will look at ISON once its ultraviolet instrument is up and running.  The closer the comet gets to the sun, the faster it gets.  In January it was clocked at 40,000 mph, four days ago it was at 150,000 mph, and when ISON slingshots around the sun, it will be speeding at 828,000 mph. See also, www.aviationweek.com.