Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Comet ISON Being Destroyed by the Sun

NASA ^ | November 02, 2015 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Most comets don't survive a close encounter with the Sun. Two years ago this month, though, Comet ISON was thought by some to be big enough to withstand its perilous sungrazing dive. The featured video shows the drama as it was recorded by NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite. As many Earthlings watched in fascination, a bright area did emerge from closest approach, but it soon faded and dispersed. It is now assumed that no large fragments of Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) survived. Besides the comet, the active Sun is seen to eject puffs of plasma known as coronal mass ejections. Launched in 1995, sun-orbiting SOHO has become a historic device in the discovery and tracking of comets known as sungrazers. Two months ago, a comet designated SOHO 3000 was named in honor of the record 3000th comet that was discovered on SOHO images, a total that amounts to about half of all known comets.

[SunkenCiv]

[Video Credit: NASA, ESA, SOHO]

[SunkenCiv]

I'm pretty sure this is a repeat.

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[gdzla]

OH NO!! Something must be done to reign in this out of control sun. Responsible for the destruction of the earth via global whatever (cooling warming, I can’t remember) now it is destroying the peaceful comets. We must raise taxes to address this.

[Ken522]

Now I heard that ISON is a SPACESHIP and the fact it survived this encounter with the Sun is proof positive!!!

[Red Badger]

Glow-ball Warming!.......................

[BenLurkin]

[TheOldLady]

Interesting fly-by.

The Sun cheated and shot the comet in the back as it was fleeing.

Thank you for an exciting movie, and you’re right, it’s from 2013.