Sungrazer
Explanation:
Arcing toward a fiery fate, this Sungrazer comet
was recorded by the SOHO spacecraft's
Large Angle Spectrometric COronagraph
(LASCO) on Dec. 23rd, 1996.
LASCO uses an occulting disk, partially visible at the lower right,
to block out the otherwise overwhelming
solar disk allowing it to
image the inner 5 million miles of the relatively faint
corona.
The comet is seen as its
coma enters the bright equatorial
solar wind region
(oriented vertically). Spots and blemishes on the image
are background stars and camera streaks caused by charged particles.
Positioned in space to
continuously observe the Sun, SOHO
has detected 7 sungrazing comets. Based on their orbits, they are
believed to belong to a family of comets created by successive
break ups from a single large parent comet
which passed very near the sun in the twelfth century.
The bright comet of 1965, Ikeya-Seki, was also a member of the Sungrazer
family, coming within about 400,000 miles of the Sun's surface.
Passing so close to the Sun, Sungrazers are subjected
to
destructive tidal forces along with intense solar heat.
This comet, known as SOHO 6, did not survive.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
