Comet NEAT Passes an Erupting Sun
Explanation:
As
Comet NEAT flared last week, the
Sun roared.
Just as the comet swooped inside the orbit of
Mercury
and developed a long and flowing tail of gas and
dust,
the Sun emitted a huge
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).
Neither the fortuitous
hot ball of solar gas
nor the intense glare of sunlight appeared to disrupt the
comet's nucleus.
The action was too close to the
Sun to be easily visible by
humans,
but the orbiting Sun-pointing
SOHO satellite had a clear view of the celestial daredevil show.
The
above image was taken on February 18 when the
comet
was so bright it created an
artificial horizontal streak on the camera image.
During the encounter,
Comet NEAT, official designation (C/2002 V1),
brightened to second
magnitude.
An
opaque disk blocked the Sun's image.
The now-outbound comet remains
bright but will surely fade as it moves away from the Sun.
Nevertheless,
Comet NEAT will likely be visible with binoculars
to southern hemisphere observers for the next month.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
