Comet ISON Before and After
Explanation:
Sungrazing Comet ISON
reached perihelion, its closest approach
to the Sun, yesterday, November 28, at 18:45 UT.
The comet passed just over 1 million kilometers above the solar
surface, a distance less than the diameter of the Sun.
These two panels follow ISON before (right) and after its close approach,
imaged
by the LASCO instrument onboard the Sun staring
SOHO spacecraft.
Overwhelming sunlight is blocked by LASCO's central occulting disk
with a white circle indicating the Sun's positon and scale.
The bright comet is seen along
its path at the bottom of the before
panel, but something much fainter exits near the top of the
after panel, potentially a dust tail reforming from the debris
left from ISON's
perihelion passage.
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.
