NASA Releases New Image of 'Comet of the Century': Will ISON Dazzle or Fizzle? (Video)

NASA has released a new image of the "comet of the century," which is set to buzz past the sun in November this year. Named ISON, the comet has the potential to dazzle stargazers and be brighter than the moon.

The icy missile was captured by NASA's Swift satellite, which is typically used to track gamma-ray bursts from distant stars. By tracing the comet for the past two months, researchers have been able to estimate how much water and dust ISON is shedding as it travels through space. This, in turn, has allowed them to infer the size of its icy nucleus.

"Comet ISON has the potential to be among the brightest comets of the last 50 years, which gives us a rare opportunity to observe its changes in great detail and over an extended period," said Lead Investigator Dennis Bodewits in a press release.

Yet how bright the comet is largely depends on evaporation rates and how quickly it sheds its dust and water. Like all comets, ISON is made up of frozen gases mixed with dust. In order to get some idea about what might be in store for us, NASA researchers used Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT).

The UVOT detects light emitted by hydroxyl and other important molecular fragments, as well as sunlight reflected from dust. Using this telescope, the researchers were able to estimate exactly how much water and dust the comet is currently shedding--about 112,000 pounds of dust and 130 pounds of water every minute.

"This mismatch we detect between the amount of dust and water produced tells us that ISON's water sublimation is not yet powering its jets because the comet is still too far away from the sun," said Bodewits in a press release. "Other more volatile materials, such as carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide ice, evaporate at greater distances and are now fueling ISON's activity."

What does this mean for the comet? Using this new information, the researchers were able to estimate the size of ISON's body--three miles across. It's a typical size for a comet but it should still put on a show for stargazers, assuming that it keeps brightening at the same pace. Researchers are still waiting and watching the comet, and cannot say definitively how ISON will perform in our night skies.

The comet will be visible in November when it makes its passage around the sun. In theory, it will be bright enough to view with the naked eye. Whether or not that's the case, though, remains to be seen.

Want to see the passage of the comet? Check it out below, courtesy of NASA. It originally appeared here.