Comet Lovejoy survives trip to the sun
Lovejoy, a comet survived what astronomers figured would be a sure death when it danced uncomfortably close to the broiling sun.
The comet, which was only discovered a couple of weeks ago, was supposed to melt Thursday night when it came close to where temperatures hit almost a million degrees. Astronomers had tracked 2,000 other sun-grazing comets make the same trip. None had ever survived.
( NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory / Associated Press ) - This handout image provided by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, taken, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, shows the Comet Lovejoy leaving the sun’s corona.
But astronomers watching live with NASA telescopes first saw the sun’s corona wiggle as Lovejoy went close to the sun. They were then shocked when a bright spot emerged on the sun’s other side. Lovejoy lived.
But only 10 percent of the comet — still nearly millions of tons — survived the encounter, said W. Dean Pesnell, project scientist for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which tracked Lovejoy’s death-defying plunge.
And the comet lost something pretty important: its tail.
“It looks like the tail broke off and is stuck” in the sun’s magnetic field, Pesnell said.
As Comet Lovejoy makes its big circle through the solar system, it will be another 800 or 900 years before it nears the sun again, astronomers say.
The comet, which was only discovered a couple of weeks ago, was supposed to melt Thursday night when it came close to where temperatures hit almost a million degrees. Astronomers had tracked 2,000 other sun-grazing comets make the same trip. None had ever survived.
( NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory / Associated Press ) - This handout image provided by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, taken, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, shows the Comet Lovejoy leaving the sun’s corona.
But astronomers watching live with NASA telescopes first saw the sun’s corona wiggle as Lovejoy went close to the sun. They were then shocked when a bright spot emerged on the sun’s other side. Lovejoy lived.
But only 10 percent of the comet — still nearly millions of tons — survived the encounter, said W. Dean Pesnell, project scientist for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which tracked Lovejoy’s death-defying plunge.
And the comet lost something pretty important: its tail.
“It looks like the tail broke off and is stuck” in the sun’s magnetic field, Pesnell said.
As Comet Lovejoy makes its big circle through the solar system, it will be another 800 or 900 years before it nears the sun again, astronomers say.
