Clear, cold and is Comet Ison really gone?

Good morning Augusta.

This morning it is clear, then partly cloudy. High of 27F. Winds less than 5 mph.

Tonight it will be mostly cloudy with a chance of snow in the evening, then overcast with a chance of snow. Low of 25F with a windchill as low as 14F. Winds from the South at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 50%. 

The readings from my own instruments are:

The humidity is 75% with a Dew Point of 7ºF and a wind chill of 12.8ºF.

The temperature Is 12.8ºF.

We have South Southwest winds  that puff between 1.3 MPH and 0.0 MPH.

Our Barometric pressure is 31.11 HPA 1043 and rising with a weather graphic indicating Sun.   

We have a UV rating of 0 out of 16, sunset will be at 4:02 PM with Moon Rise at 3:55 a.m. EST and the moon phase is waning crescent.

For the pilots out there, Raw Metar readings are:

METAR KAUG 301153Z AUTO 00000KT 10SM CLR M12/M14 A3078 RMK AO2 SLP430 T11171139 11094 21122 53009

Visibility is 10.0 miles/16.1 Kilometers with very clear and very cold conditions.

We had no measurable precipitation here in the past 24 hours.

Comet ISON Might Not Be Dead after All, Scientists Say

The evidence, however, is not yet confirmed, and some stargazers are holding on to hopes that a small streak satellite images have shown emerging from the flyby may point to an against-the-odds survival.

"We will have to wait a bit to see how this thing behaves in the next couple of days and weeks," according to European Space Agency (ESA) comet expert Gerhard Schwehm, who told AFP it was "not impossible" that a part of the comet's nucleus survived the fiery encounter, but also not likely.

"It looks like the nucleus disintegrated and what you see is basically the... remains," he said.

Dubbed the "Christmas Comet", the icy giant likened to a massive, dirty snowball, skimmed past the Sun at a distance of just 730,000 miles (1.17 million kilometers) around 1830 GMT on Thursday.

It had been estimated that ISON would undergo temperatures of 4,900 degrees Fahrenheit (2,700 Celsius)and lose three million tonnes of its mass per second as it made its journey around the sun.

The evidence, however, is not yet confirmed, and some stargazers are holding on to hopes that a small streak satellite images have shown emerging from the flyby may point to an against-the-odds survival.

"We will have to wait a bit to see how this thing behaves in the next couple of days and weeks," according to European Space Agency (ESA) comet expert Gerhard Schwehm, who told AFP it was "not impossible" that a part of the comet's nucleus survived the fiery encounter, but also not likely.

"It looks like the nucleus disintegrated and what you see is basically the... remains," he said.

"I am not seeing anything that emerges from behind the solar disk and that I think could be the nail in the coffin," he told a roundtable organised by the US space agency NASA.

Hours later, images distributed by the American and European space agencies appeared to show a small streak emerging from behind the Sun, along the same trajectory by which the comet had entered.

But astronomers were quick to point out this did not necessarily mean the comet, or even a part of it, had survived.

"I am believing it is a lot of dust, because when it comes out (from behind the Sun), you see the tail and... it is much wider, it's like a fan opening," Schwehm said of the images.

Jacques Crovisier, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory, agreed.

"It is hard to comment without having all the facts. Yes, there is still something there, but in my opinion they are remains -- the tail of the comet that hasn't yet disappeared," he said.

"There doesn't appear to be any cometary activity any more, no more ejection of gas."

The tail of a comet is formed when the core of dust and ice heats up and sheds molten material.

ISON has fascinated astronomers since its discovery by a Russian team in September 2012 because it traces its origins to the start of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago.

Several million years ago, ISON escaped from the Oort cloud, a grouping of debris halfway between the sun and the next closest star.

It had initially been expected to provide one of the greatest celestial shows of the century, streaking brilliantly through the sky towards the end of the year -- hence it's informal name.