Comet Bradfield Passes the Sun
Explanation:
Right now,
Comet Bradfield is passing the Sun.
The above image, the latest taken in the direction of the
Sun by the
SOHO
LASCO
instrument, shows the comet and its
dust tail
as the elongated white streak.
The
Sun
would normally be seen in the very center but has been
blocked from view.
Comet C/2004 F4 (Bradfield) was discovered
just one month ago and has brightened dramatically
as it neared the Sun.
Careful sky gazers can see
Comet Bradfield
with the unaided eye near the Sun, although
NASA's
sun-orbiting SOHO satellite has the best view.
Reloading this page (or
click here)
every few hours will show Comet Bradfield continually shifting inside the
LASCO frame as it rounds the Sun.
There is even the possibility that the comet will
break up.
If not, the bright comet's trajectory will carry it
outside the field of LASCO sometime tomorrow.
Along with
T7 and
Q4,
Comet Bradfield is now the
third comet that is currently visible
on the sky with the unaided eye, the most ever of which we are aware
and quite possibly the most in
recorded
history.
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.
