• Comet Lovejoy Plunges into the Atmosphere of the Sun and Survives
    28 replies, posted
[quote]Dec. 16, 2011: This morning, an armada of spacecraft witnessed something that many experts thought impossible. Comet Lovejoy flew through the hot atmosphere of the sun and emerged intact. "It's absolutely astounding," says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. "I did not think the comet's icy core was big enough to survive plunging through the several million degree solar corona for close to an hour, but Comet Lovejoy is still with us." The comet's close encounter was recorded by at least five spacecraft: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and twin STEREO probes, Europe's Proba2 microsatellite, and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The most dramatic footage so far comes from SDO, which saw the comet go in and then come back out again. [url]http://science.nasa.gov/media/medialibrary/2011/12/16/lovejoyemerges.m4v[/url] [b]<<< VIDEO[/b] In the SDO movies, the comet's tail wriggles wildly as the comet plunges through the sun's hot atmosphere only 120,000 km above the stellar surface. This could be a sign that the comet was buffeted by plasma waves coursing through the corona. Or perhaps the tail was bouncing back and forth off great magnetic loops known to permeate the sun's atmosphere. No one knows. "This is all new," says Battams. "SDO is giving us our first look1 at comets travelling through the sun's atmosphere. How the two interact is cutting-edge research." &#8220;The motions of the comet material in the sun&#8217;s magnetic field are just fascinating,&#8221; adds SDO project scientist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center. &#8220;The abrupt changes in direction reminded me of how the solar wind affected the tail of Comet Encke in 2007 (movie).&#8221; Comet Lovejoy was discovered on Dec. 2, 2011, by amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy of Australia. Researchers quickly realized that the new find was a member of the Kreutz family of sungrazing comets. Named after the German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who first studied them, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments of a single giant comet that broke apart back in the 12th century (probably the Great Comet of 1106). Kreutz sungrazers are typically small (~10 meters wide) and numerous. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory sees one falling into the sun every few days. At the time of discovery, Comet Lovejoy appeared to be at least ten times larger than the usual Kreutz sungrazer, somewhere in the in the 100 to 200 meter range. In light of today's events, researchers are re-thinking those numbers.[/quote] Source: [url]http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16dec_cometlovejoy/[/url] Pretty cool!
I'm confused, did it skim the surface or did it actually go straight through the sun.
A more accurate title would have been "Comet Lovejoy Flew Through Atmosphere of the Sun and Survives".
We're it's next target.
[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;33758140]I'm confused, did it skim the surface or did it actually go straight through the sun.[/QUOTE] It got near it. It flew through the atmosphere. OP's title is very misleading.
[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;33758140]I'm confused, did it skim the surface or did it actually go straight through the sun.[/QUOTE] It passed really close by it, the title is misleading and inaccurate.
Yeah, I was expecting the comet to pierce the Sun like a bullet.
[QUOTE=Hardpoint Nomad;33758140]or did it actually go straight through the sun.[/QUOTE] I don't think so.
Yeah, sorry about the title. It just flew extremely close to the sun and came out intact.
Yes the title says exactly that
Wow, that's pretty damn cool. I mean, it's a comet and it survived going through the sun.
The video makes it look like it's saying "OH SHIT THAT'S HOT OW OW OW".
[QUOTE=Bat-shit;33758419]Yes the title says exactly that[/QUOTE] Well no shit, the title was corrected. It originally said "Comet Lovejoy Plunges into the Sun and Survives".
Looks like Dr. Manhattan is going for his morning jog....
That's cool, I wonder how that's even possible
We must harvest this comet and learn its secrets.
Anyone notice it sounds like Dr. Strangelove?
Holy hell. The sun's atmosphere alone is around a million degrees. How'd it survive for an [i]hour[/i] under those conditions?
Thing is, the sun's atmosphere has such few particles that instead of burning, you would freeze. So while the atmosphere is a million degrees, it's like dropping a red hot staple into a pot of cold water. Of course this is just stuff I read a few months ago. don't quote me on this
[QUOTE=chunkymonkey;33759096]Well no shit, the title was corrected. It originally said "Comet Lovejoy Plunges into the Sun and Survives".[/QUOTE] Oh.. right
[QUOTE=Dr.C;33760500]Thing is, the sun's atmosphere has such few particles that instead of burning, you would freeze. So while the atmosphere is a million degrees, it's like dropping a red hot staple into a pot of cold water. Of course this is just stuff I read a few months ago. don't quote me on this[/QUOTE] Thermal radiation.
[i]"hothotHOTHOTFUCKFUCK"[/i]
Aliens. [img]https://camo.team9000.net/ca98552d312ea03ef540f6e296a7b487b276c93f/687474703a2f2f63687a6d656d65626173652e66696c65732e776f726470726573732e636f6d2f323031312f30312f616c69656e737371756172652e6a7067[/img]
That's awesome.
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/18/Reverend_Lovejoy.png/240px-Reverend_Lovejoy.png[/img] Truly a miracle.
[QUOTE=Dr.C;33760500]Thing is, the sun's atmosphere has such few particles that instead of burning, you would freeze. So while the atmosphere is a million degrees, it's like dropping a red hot staple into a pot of cold water. Of course this is just stuff I read a few months ago. don't quote me on this[/QUOTE] no
Imagine if it melted and became a glass comet. Transparent death!
[QUOTE=chunkymonkey;33758177]A more accurate title would have been "Comet Lovejoy Flew Through Atmosphere of the Sun and Survives".[/QUOTE] Wouldn't a more accurate title be "Comet Lovejoy Flew Through the Atmosphere of the Sun and Survived"?
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTc9sLmOR0A[/media]
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