.comment-link {margin-left:.6em;}

Sunday, November 05, 2006

 

SOHO Catches Comet Death Dive

Click Image to enlarge, Credit NASA/SOHO

On the 3rd of November, the SOHO solar observatory watched a comet apprache the Sun. The comet dissapeared behind the occulting disk of the C3 camera, but didn't reappear on the other side.

The comet evaporated during its close encounter with the Sun. The comet was a member of the Kreutz Sungrazers, a class of comet which is thought to have originated from the breakup of a much larger comet that approached the Sun.

You can download a big (1.3Mb) or small (0.2 Mb) movie of the event. The movie from the C2 camera (0.2Mb) is pretty spectacular too. (Hat tip to Spaceweather for the initial report)

Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?