A Comet Grazes the Sun
Department:
Comets
Teaser:
A recently discovered comet is approaching the Sun. The SOHO spacecraft is providing a movie of the ongoing encounter
Link:
Source:
SpaceWeather.com Jan 02
A comet just discovered by NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is plunging toward the sun. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has an excellent view of the ongoing encounter. Click on the image to set the scene in motion:
Latest movies: gif, mpeg-4, m4v
Will the icy visitor survive? The drama will play itself out in the hours ahead.
This kamikaze comet is probably a member of the Kreutz sungrazer family. Named after a 19th century German astronomer who studied them in detail, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a giant comet at least 2000 years ago. Several of these fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day. Most are too small to see. Today's fragment is a big exception.
Credit: The comet was found on Jan. 2nd by Australian amateur astronomer Alan Watson, who was inspecting images obtained by STEREO-A's Heliospheric Imager on Dec. 30, 2009.
