Thursday, January 19, 2012

Comet Plunges Into Sun

The comet C/2011 N3 (SOHO) diving toward the sun in July 2011.
Enlarge NASA The comet C/2011 N3 (SOHO) diving toward the sun in July 2011.
For the first time ever, scientists have been able to watch a comet perform a deadly dive into the sun. Back in July, a Kreutz sungrazer known as C/2011 N3 passed so close to the sun that the icy body was vaporized.
Scientists at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, who made the observations using NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, describe the comet's final death throes in a paper to be published in tomorrow's edition of the journal Science.

MORE: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/01/19/145484401/way-to-go-scientists-watch-comet-plunge-into-the-sun

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