[SunkenCiv]

(quibble: 865,000 miles)

Comets graze the Sun quite often, most survive, some don’t.

Comet Encke took a lickin’, kept on tickin’:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071001145018.htm
http://www.nasa.gov/mpg/191092main_encke_visualization.mpg
http://spider.seds.org/spider/Comets/encke.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/186530/Enckes-Comet
http://www.universetoday.com/87305/comet-encke/

[norwaypinesavage]

Interesting. Note, though, that the universetoday article says that Enckes perihelion is .332 AU. This would place it about 29 MILLION miles from the sun’s surface. The article says that ISON might come 30 THOUSAND miles from the surface.