The Comet That Flew Through the Sun and Survived
In 2011, an amateur astronomer found a comet heading straight for the Sun. Everyone expected it to be destroyed. It came out the other side.
What was reported
In November 2011, Terry Lovejoy, an amateur astronomer in Queensland, Australia, discovered a comet. Calculations showed it was a sungrazer, on course to pass within about 140,000 kilometres of the Sun's surface, through its scorching outer atmosphere.
Scientists expected it to evaporate. On 16 December, spacecraft watching the Sun saw it disappear behind the Sun's glare, and then, to astonishment, re-emerge on the other side with its tail streaming. Days later, it was a spectacular sight in southern skies.
Explanations offered
The comet's nucleus was large enough to survive the brief passage, though it lost a great deal of material and broke up weeks later. Its survival gave scientists a rare chance to study the Sun's atmosphere and magnetic field through the comet's tail.
- When
- Discovered November 2011
- Where
- Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- Witnesses
- An amateur astronomer, then space telescopes
- Status
- Confirmed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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