Solar Comet

2010/04/13 Kortabitarte Egiguren, Irati - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Astronomia

Click on the image to watch the video

In this video you can see the last hours of a comet. This comet “too much” approached the Sun over the weekend and since then there is no trace. It seems to have been swallowed by the sun. It's not the first time something like that happens, at least it's the third time this year.

This comet can be one of the comets that pass in its orbit very close to the Sun at certain times. Therefore, sometimes these comets are caught or engulfed by the gravity of the Sun.

They believe it is one of the pieces of a large comet divided centuries ago. These pieces are called Kreutz kites. Astronomer Heinrich Kreutz was the first to check the relationship between these fragments.

Image courtesy of: These are images taken from the SOHO observatory.