A First: Comet Seen Actually Entering Sun’s Atmosphere
- Posted on January 20, 2012 at 12:59pm by
Liz Klimas
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Know the saying that that if you fly to close to the sun, you’ll get burned? For one comet, this saying meant complete incineration.
For the first time, a comet has gone where no comet has been observed to go before — into the sun’s atmosphere. According to Space.com, the comet was seen alive and well on July 4, 2011 — two days before it entered dangerous territory. On July 6, it flew 62,000 miles into the sun’s atmosphere, at which point it reportedly broke into pieces and was vaporized, Space.com reported. National Geographic reports that this means the comet could have reached the sun’s corona.
(Image: Science/AAAS via Space.com)
The Kreutz comet C/2011 N3 — a member of a family of dare devil comets that fly close to the sun — was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). Space.com reports that within the last 15 years more than 1,400 Kreutz comets have been spotted but the telescopes were not sensitive enough, until now, to detect if the sungrazers had entered the sun’s atmosphere.
National Geographic has more from solar physicist and fellow at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center Karel Schrijver:
“We know what to do should another [sungrazer] materialize. We’re going to point multiple spacecraft at it and observe it,” Schrijver said.
No comets have been seen to actually impact the sun yet, but Schrijver isn’t ruling out the possibility: “That,” he said, “would make a splash.”
Watch this Space.com report:
Scientists believe that the comet weighed about 70,000 tons, but in its last 10 minutes of life lost between 1.5 million to 150 million pounds.
Researchers believe that sun-driving comet observations could lead them to better understand comet composition as well as the sun’s upper atmosphere.
More recently, the Lovejoy comet — also a member of the Kreutz sungrazers – flew by the sun in Dec. 2011. Check out this Blaze post with a time-lapsed video of the Lovejoy comet from space.
The observations were published in this month’s edition of the journal Science.
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Fonz777
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 8:48amI thought what‘s his name said the sun doesn’t have anything to do with warming.
Report Post »Country_of_Arizona
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 1:10amBeginning of the prophecy of 2012′s end has begun! Food, water, guns and all the other survival stores ain’t gonna save us! These upcoming elections don’t mean a thing cuz there will be no 2013!!!
Report Post »A part of the sun is gonna break away and head towards earth. It will bypass the planet but it’ll come close enough to suck the life from this planet and set it ablaze and destroy the fragile balance of the underlying plates. That will cause massive earthquakes hence destroying (blowing apart) this planet!!
donaldchar
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 1:46amIf you’re wrong, are you prepared to be stoned to death? Who told you this?
Report Post »Merrymix
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 3:07amTo find out what is soon to happen with colliding comets: http://www.thewarningsecondcoming.com
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 10:44pm.
Report Post »Paris Hilton saw this and said,
“That’s hot!”
bdcmpny
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 10:13pmHow many millions/billions of taxpayer dollars were spent to watch the sun melt a piece of ice? You can do that on a sidewalk during the summer for free.
Report Post »USAqh
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 9:32pmJust remember … the ‘practice’ of science and the ‘practice’ of medicine …
It is all a ‘BEST GUESS’ … not that there is anything wrong with that … but remember ..it’s a practiced guess …
ciao
Report Post »sirocco78
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 8:54pmHuh. Giant ball of fire evaporates smaller ball of ice. who knew?
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 8:04pmWhat is the point of the comet flyinging into the sun? I thought god doesn’t do pointless things
Report Post »Welcome Black Carter
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 9:15pmI’ll ask him one day. Where should I send the answer…
Report Post »BOMUSTGO
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 11:33pmLuke 21:25-27 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
Report Post »26. Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
27. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Azalea
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 6:49pmGuess we’ll just have to ask God if he has e-mail, Facebook or Twitter, huh? Great Answer!
Report Post »Pro-Palin
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 6:58pmThis is what happens…. their are less cold icey comets going thru the solar system thus greating global warming. Mean SUN .
Report Post »palerider54
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 6:56pmWhen you consider the infinite power of the SUN, and the fact that if earth was just a little bit closer to it we would burn up, a little bit father away we would freeze. Sure makes me appreciate the infinite power of the SON.
Report Post »ohmy2u
Posted on January 22, 2012 at 9:06pmI agree completely! Job 38:31-37, ” 31“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades,
Or loose the belt of Orion?
32 Can you bring out Mazzaroth[a] in its season?
Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you set their dominion over the earth?
34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
That an abundance of water may cover you?
35 Can you send out lightnings, that they may go,
And say to you, ‘Here we are!’?
36 Who has put wisdom in the mind?
Or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
Report Post »Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven,
Mans wisdom is nothing compared to God’s wisdom! We haven’t even scratched the surface!
http://www.izoominews.blogspot.com http://www.ohmy2u.blogspot.com
hoopojoop
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 6:12pm“We are Americans
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 5:42pm
Actually invading the wrong country after
9/11 was GW fault.”
Are you talking about the country that harbored Osama Bin Laden or the country that harbored Abu Nidal?
Report Post »We are Americans
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 6:22pmObviously u have more info then me.
Report Post »Iraq must have been harboring Bin Laden
with their WMD. My bad. Maybe we
should look for Iraqs WMD in Pakistan where
Bin Laden was being harbored after he left Iraq.
Bin Laden called
the Iraq war Americas gift to me.
FreedomOne
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 4:28pmWho cares about a comet hitting the sun. Waste of money IMO.
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 6:24pmA waste of money? The comet was not sent there by any money-spending entity.
Report Post »Gumbercules
Posted on January 21, 2012 at 3:28pm@Chuck Stein
Try reading between the lines next time, Einstein.
Report Post »FreedomOne
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 4:27pmIt is G.W.’s fault
Report Post »We are Americans
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 5:42pmActually invading the wrong country after
Report Post »9/11 was GW fault. Not having a strategy for
the occupation was GW fault. Allowing Bin Laden
to escape from Tora Bora was GW fault. Sending
our brave soilders into combat without proper
body armor was GW fault. I can go on if you’d
like.
goahead.makemyday
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 3:28pmOh yeah maybe those splashes correlate with spikes in UV radiation there by being the REAL reason the global temps go up then drop. Personally I thinks man has too big an opinion of it’s self to believe we cause the key factor of climate change.
Report Post »goahead.makemyday
Posted on January 20, 2012 at 3:25pmA family of comets? Who‘s the daddy and who’s the momma comet?
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