Watch the amazing moment our star swallows a comet.
This large Kreutz’s comet was probably 10 (30ft) to 50m (150ft) in diameter. So quite a monster…
The sun swallowed a comet on Friday, August 28, 2015. And the comet was so large that it has been recorded by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) plunging into our star.
When arriving in the vicinity of the sun, the comet loses its ice component and becomes a pile of rock and gravel.
As shown in the NASA’s video, the icy space object went in and totally disappeared…
According to SpaceWeather.com:
The comet, R.I.P., was probably a member of the Kreutz family. Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a single giant comet many centuries ago. Several Kreutz fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day. Most, measuring less than a few meters across, are too small to see, but occasionally a bigger fragment like this one (~10 m to 50 m) attracts attention.
Hopefully we will see some more in the near future!
[…] Because of their common parentage, sungrazers often come in clusters. So, it wouldn’t be surprising to observe another comet being swallowed by the sun. […]
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