Comet Ison Latest: Comet Of The Century's Tail Is 16 Million Kilometres Long

Comet Of The Century's Tail Is 16 Million Kilometres Long
Waldemar Skorupa

Comet ISON is getting closer and closer to the surface of the Sun - and as it gets there it's getting brighter and brighter from our perspective here on Earth.

Currently the Comet is just about visible from Earth at night, but judging from the pictures we're starting to see it's just getting more spectacular.

One tidbit we've gathered today is that far from the small rock and tail you might imagine, ISON is actually a pretty huge object streaking across the sky - at least, its trail of debris is.

According to SpaceWeather.com, the comet's tail is now more than 16 million kilometres long, after part of the comet exploded - dramatically increasing its brightness.

A picture by Michael Jäger of Ebenwaldhöhe, Austria, which is included in our gallery below, revealed the trail in the sky, like that of a plane in our own atmosphere but many millions of times bigger.

"The tail of the comet stretches more than 7 degrees across the sky," said Jäger. It's almost as wide as the bowl of the Big Dipper."

We're still waiting to see what will happen to ISON when it reaches the Sun on November 28 - it could totally combust and explode, or illuminate in a dazzling light show for astronomers here on Earth.

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