* Astronomy

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Home -> Astronomy News -> Comets -> Sungrazer comets
Post Info TOPIC: Sungrazer comets
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
RE: Sungrazer comets
Permalink  
 

Comet Corpses in the Solar Wind

A paper published in today's issue of Science raises an intriguing new possibility for astronomers: unearthing comet corpses in the solar wind.  The new research is based on dramatic images of a comet disintegrating in the sun's atmosphere last July.
Comet Lovejoy grabbed headlines in Dec. 2011 when it plunged into the sun's atmosphere and emerged again relatively intact.  But it was not the first comet to graze the sun. Last summer a smaller comet took the same trip with sharply different results. Comet C/2011 N3 (SOHO) was completely destroyed on July 6, 2011, when it swooped 100,000 km above the stellar surface.  NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the disintegration.
Read more 



__________________
Blobrana


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

The sun has just experienced a storm - not of explosive flares and hot plasma, but of icy comets.

"The storm began on Dec 13th and ended on the 22nd. During that time, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected 25 comets diving into the sun. It was crazy!" - Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC.

Sundiving comets - a.k.a. "sungrazers" - are nothing new. SOHO typically sees one every few days, plunging inward and disintegrating as solar heat sublimes its volatile ices.

Read more

__________________
Page 1 of 1  sorted by
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.
Home -> Astronomy News -> Comets -> Sungrazer comets


Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse 		Powered by ActiveBoard