Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Captures Passing Comet

Posted on August 4, 2016

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) captured a comet traveling by the sun at 1.3 million miles per hour.

The comet was observed by the ESA and NASA SOHO spacecraft on August 3rd and August 4th.

NASA shared the video footage on Twitter:

A comet, traveling ~1.3 million miles per hour, plunged toward the sun on Aug. 3-4. Watch: https://t.co/lpoAQRgMO3 pic.twitter.com/oQdQtsE5qH
— NASA (@NASA) August 4, 2016

NASA says SOHO first spotted this comet on August. It is part of the Kreutz family of comets. It is a group of comets with related orbits that broke off of a huge comet several centuries ago.

The comet whipped around the sun rather than falling into it. It did not survive its journey. NASA says the comet was "torn apart and vaporized by the intense forces near the sun."

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THE SUN