Sungrazer C/2024 S1 ATLAS broke apart at perihelion. Alas, a ‘Great Halloween Comet’ was not to be. The Universe teased us just a bit this month, with the potential promise of a second naked eye comet in October: C/2024 S1 ATLAS. Discovered on the night of September 27th by the Asteroid Terrestrial Last-alert impact System (ATLAS) all-sky survey, this inbound comet was surprisingly bright and active for its relative distance from the Sun at the time of discovery. This gave the comet the potential to do what few sungrazers have done: survive a blisteringly close perihelion passage near the Sun. S1 ATLAS on final solar approach. NASA/ESA/SOHO Perishing at Perihelion But as perihelion day approached yesterday on October 28th, things started to look grim. S1 ATLAS began to resemble a garden variety Kreutz sungrazer more and more. Little more than an icy rumble pile on final approach, the comet went in the inner field of view of the Solar Heliospheric Observatory’s (SOHO) LASCO C2 imager and behind the central occulting disk yesterday morning… and failed to exit. Comet S1 ATLAS ends its days, as seen via SOHO’s LASCO C2 imager. NASA/SOHO Perihelion distance (and time of expiry) for the comet was 330,600 miles/532,000 kilometers from the surface of the Sun yesterday, at around 7:30 AM EDT/11:30 Universal Time. Curiously, the final estimates for the comet put its orbital period at 953 years, suggesting that this may not have been its first passage through the inner solar system. The finale for Comet S1 ATLAS, just hours prior to perihelion. ESA/NASA/SOHO/NRL The comet gave us a few tell-tale signs that it was under-performing leading up to perihelion. After a brief outburst around its discovery 1.094 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun, the comet then faded considerably in early October. The lackluster performance was confirmed as it entered the field of view of SOHO’s LASCO C3 viewer this weekend. Still, its final solar dive put on a good show. As I’m sure you’re aware, little comet ATLAS didn’t make it. ? It was clearly already a pile of rubble by the time it reached the LASCO field of view, and solar radiation took care of the clean-up for us. ???? pic.twitter.com/s8HrchtWnF — Karl Battams (@SungrazerComets) October 28, 2024 A Brief History of Sungrazers The demise of Comet S1 ATLAS yesterday brought to mind memories from early on in my Universe Today writing career of another great comet that wasn’t: C/2012 S1 ISON. That particular comet met its end on U.S. Thanksgiving Day 2013. The last great surprise for sungrazers was Comet W3 Lovejoy in 2011-2012, which survived a perihelion just 87,000 miles/140,000 kilometers from the surface of the Sun (!), and went on to become a great comet. Another example showing us what is possible was Comet Ikeya-Seki, which survived perihelion 280,000 miles/450,000 miles from the Sun in 1965 and became one of the great comets of the 20th century. Light curve magnitude comparisons of comets Ikeya-Seki, W3 Lovejoy and S1 ATLAS in the lead up to their respective perihelia. Credit: Jakub Cerný Astronomer Heinrich Kreutz discovered the existence on the Kreutz family of sungrazing comets in the 1890s. The earliest documented report of a sungrazer was from Greece by Aristotle and contemporary historian Ephorus in 371 BC. Prior to 1979, only nine confirmed sungrazers were known of… the launch of the joint NASA European Space Agency’s SOHO mission in 1995 changed the game considerably. Now, SOHO’s sungrazer tally after over a quarter of a century in space is 5,065 comets and counting. It turns out, we were still missing lots of what was passing through the inner solar system, all this time. More in Store? Last week, the NOAA revealed the successor for SOHO’s coronagraph aboard its GOES-19 satellite. The CCOR-1 (Compact Coronagraph) should start releasing public images in early 2025. This comes as the ‘other’ October comet, C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS fades from view. A3 T-ATLAS is now outbound at +6th magnitude in the constellation Ophiuchus. The comet had a decent evening apparition post perihelion a few weeks ago. The spiky ‘anti-tail’ provided an amazing view. Are there any great comets on tap for 2025? Well, as of writing this, there’s only one comet with real potential to reach naked eye visibility in 2025: Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS. This comet reaches perihelion 0.094 AU from the Sun on January 13th. G3 ATLAS and ‘may’ top -1st magnitude or brighter. S1 ATLAS may have joined the ranks of comets that failed to live up to expectations… but you just never know. Its fast-paced story from discovery to demise shows us just how quickly the next bright comet could make itself known. Keep watching the skies: its only a matter of time. The post Death of a Comet: S1 Didn’t Survive its Sungrazing Plummet appeared first on Universe Today.

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We ran the lyrics of a hit song through multiple languages, then translated them back into English. Can you figure out what the song is, or who performed it?

Republicans on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt Pennsylvania’s attempt to count provisional ballots, in a filing that could impact thousands of votes in the critical swing state. The Republican National Committee intervened in a lawsuit brought against Butler County, Pennsylvania, by voters who did not have provisional ballots counted for lack of a proper envelope. The RNC, which is the applicant at the high court for a stay of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision, said...

There is something to be said about music in the early 2000s. It has a way of getting at some of the deeper parts of you while also remaining surprisingly upbeat. If you were one of those kids that enjoyed emo music then you likely know exactly the kind of oxymoronic journey the songs can feel like. The music seems to be implying fun while the lyrics are often downtrodden filled with issues to be further examined. But even if you weren't a scene or emo kid, you likely still blasted some Paramore, Fall Out Boy or Panic! At the Disco at some point while cruising through town. It was a genre that touched nearly every group of people in America no matter who you were, but whatever happened to those emo kids anyway? They grew up...and some may or may not have become professors. Or at least that's the most logical conclusion, especially given the way Professor Matthew Pittman wakes his students that fall asleep in class. Pittman teaches college classes and one of his students recorded his hijinks in class one day writing in the text overlay, "why does my professor scream emo lyrics to wake up sleeping students?" It's clearly because emo music being scream sung into your earholes will get your blood pumping quickly when you've inadvertently fallen asleep. It's science. Okay, well probably not science, but obviously a very effective tool in the professor's arsenal. File:Blink182.jpg - Wikipedia en.m.wikipedia.org In the video shared on Professor Pittman's page, you see the professor spot a student with his head tipped back appearing to be asleep. Pittman spots the student and seizes the opportunity to loudly serenade him with a little Secondhand Serenade's "Fall for You." Shouting the lyrics to the chorus, Pittman kneels in front of the student who immediately startles awake satisfying the professor enough to walk away...until someone else dares to close their eyes. Pittman makes his way through the lecture hall to get to the other sleeping student but never gives away what he's about to do. He simply continues his lesson until he reaches the unsuspecting student, "the structure of the syntax are of course very important when making a compelling argument." It's at this point the sleeping target is within shouting distance prompting the likely former emo professor to test out his vocal range with Green Day's "Basket Case." While the Green Day song is from 1994 fitting solidly into the grunge era, it still works. Green Day Venezuela: Billie Joe + Mike Dirnt | Ed Vill | Flickr www.flickr.com At one point Pittman climbs over chairs to get to a megaphone and sing to Blink-182's "I Miss You" to a sleeping girl who wakes up laughing. The students appear to be used to the the professor's shenanigans and find it amusing. People in the comments pointed out how comfortable to students are with him. @matthewcpittman #emomusic is good for #wakingup #tired #collegestudents #collegeclass #sleepingstudent #collegestudent #emomusicchallenge #greenday #blink182 #secondhandserenade #fallforyou #basketcase #90smusic ♬ original sound - Professor Pittman "He’s such a safe space his student squeezes his nose for amplified affect," someone writes."This is the type of professor you randomly pick because you need the class and end up picking whenever you can for other classes," another person laughs. Mothers Day Emo GIF by GIPHY Studios 2021 Giphy "Idk what’s better him pulling megaphone out of seemingly no where or the other kid reaching over to plug his nose to make the blink 182 song more authentic sounding," one person contemplates."Moving his hair in front of his eye too is really just the cherry on top," another chimes in."I love how his students are comfortable enough to pinch his nose and even push the megaphone with their feet. it's like they're with a friend," someone else shares.

Recording the impossible. The post “It’s too high”: The song Brian May thought would be too difficult for Freddie Mercury first appeared on Far Out Magazine.