Sun-Grazing Comet Disappears
Department:
Comets
Teaser:
The disappearance of the sungrazing comet was recorded by NASA's SOHO spacecraft. The comet was a member of the Kreutz sungrazer family, a family of fragments from the breakup of a giant comet hundreds of years ago.
Link:
Source:
SpaceWeather.com - Jan 03 2010
The solar system has one less comet. The subtraction occurred yesterday when a bright comet discovered by NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft plunged toward the sun and evaporated. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) had an excellent view of the encounter. Click on the image to set the scene in motion:…
One "dirty snowball" went in; none came out. The doomed comet was 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 but occasionally a big fragment--like this one--attracts attention.
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.
See SpaceWeather.com - for links to further info.
