Comet ISON has been fading by several magnitudes in the past 12 hours and shows no signs of fresh activity as you can see in this pic (compare to yesterday's pic):
This does not bode well for the comet becoming a naked eye sight for the viewing public in the next few days. The comet is moving away from the Sun which will cause further dimming and if there is no new activity to pump up the material in the fading tail, it will be up to astrophotographers to try and image the comet.
I suspect that Comet ISON was severely disrupted/fragmented in its close passage to the Sun on Thursday and that the apparently temporary revival we saw as it emerged was a last gasp. I don't think Comet ISON has anything left to become brighter at this point.
Please look at the movies and commentary at this link http://www.isoncampaign.org/karl/a-trail-of-questions as it is the best summary with GREAT movies of what has happened and what to expect.
Karl, in my view, has been the human heart, soul and interpreter of Comet ISON for the rest of us. He has shown the world and the Twitterverse the passion, truth and humanity of doing science in the public/social media arena. It has been an absolute pleasure to read Karl's blog - it should have a special place in the history of science as it shared cometary science in a very human way. Interspersed among the fantastic science involving Comet ISON was the human emotions Karl felt and shared with all of us. Very moving and telling - thank you Karl for all you shared with us.
If, and I think this is not going to happen, Comet ISON brightens to become visible to the unaided eye, I will post finder charts here.
I'll keep you posted.
Sky Guy in VA
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