New Year Sun Grazer . ... Credit Copyright: LASCO , SOHO Consortium , NRL , ESA , NASA Explanation: Intense and overwhelming, the direct glare of the Sun is blocked by the smooth occulting disk in this image from the sun-staring SOHO spacecraft. ... Based on their orbits, sungrazers are believed to belong to the Kreutz family of comets , created by successive break ups from a single large parent comet that passed very near the Sun in the twelfth century. ... U. Based on Astronomy Picture Of the Day ...