Sunday, December 18, 2011

Watch as Comet Lovejoy Takes a Death-Dive Into the Sun

Watch as Comet Lovejoy Takes a Death-Dive Into the Sun:


A comet discovered on Dec. 2, 2011 is now on a near collision course with the Sun, and likely won’t survive such a close encounter. The best part is that you can follow along and watch as it happens! Comet C/2011 W3 Lovejoy will pass behind the sun at around 24:00 UTC (7 pm EST) on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 and probably won’t be seen again. In the video above, processed images from the STEREO A spacecraft shows Comet Lovejoy blazing towards the Sun, with the comet’s tail wiggling as it interacts with the solar wind.


The Solar Dynamics Observatory website has a special page where they will be uploading the latest images of the comet as it meets its fiery fate. As Comet Lovejoy moves toward perihelion, the SDO team will point SDO a little to the left of the Sun to try and see the tail of the comet with their instruments. This website will allow you to see those images as quickly as they can download them from the spacecraft.


Science live and in action!

(...)
Read the rest of Watch as Comet Lovejoy Takes a Death-Dive Into the Sun (549 words)




© nancy for Universe Today, 2011. |
Permalink |
2 comments |
Add to
del.icio.us


Post tags: , , , , ,


Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh



No comments:

Post a Comment