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Blogs > loveisamyth > loveisamyth, stars are forever


loveisamyth 68M
849 posts
3/4/2015 10:48 am
SUNGRAZING COMET, DESTROYED
Last month we reported an unusual comet dive-bombing the sun. Discovered by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, "SOHO-2875" did not belong to any known family of sungrazing comets, and it intrigued astronomers by brightening after its closest approach on Feb. 19th. What happened to the comet? You'll have to ask its ghost.



Astrophotographer Michael Jäger of Hochbärneck, Austria, took the picture on February 28, 2015, shortly after the comet had emerged from the glare of the sun. It shows not an intact comet, but rather a trail of debris. SOHO-2875 appears to be dead, and this is its remains.

Comet expert Karl Battams of the Naval research lab comments: "As we see, comet SOHO-2875 - officially C/2015 D1 SOHO - was indeed 'recovered' from the ground, but regrettably not in one piece. Amateur astronomer Justin Cowart was the first to spot the comet, followed the next night by a couple of other observers. All were reporting the same thing - a long diffuse streak with no central condensation - and Michael's stunning image illustrates that perfectly."

"When I see an image like this," Battams continues, "it tells me that the nucleus of the comet no longer exists. Instead, probably soon after perihelion, the comet's nucleus suffered some kind of catastrophic disruption and just completely fell apart. All that remains is a dusty ghost of what once was. You'll recall Comet ISON did much the same thing, though in that comet's case it fell apart before it even reached its closest point to the Sun. D1 has done us something of a favor by waiting until after perihelion to crumble, and the dust has remained somewhat compact enough that ground observers can view it for a while."

"People often ask me in these situations what actually happens to the dust, and the answer depends on the size of the chunks. Really small stuff (think: vacuum cleaner dust) will get blown away by the force of sunlight hitting it. But bigger chunks will just continue safely on in their orbit, back out to the cold recesses of our solar system. This comet did not appear to be a short or even long period, so this is one ghost that will not be making a reappearance!"



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