Solar survivor: Comet defies death in brush with sun

A SMALL comet survived what astronomers thought would be certain death when it danced uncomfortably close to the sun.

Comet Lovejoy, which was only discovered a couple of weeks ago, was supposed to melt when it came close to where temperatures hit several million degrees.

Astronomers had tracked 2,000 other sun-grazing comets making the same suicidal trip. None survived. But astronomers watching live with Nasa telescopes first saw the sun’s corona wiggle as Lovejoy went close to the sun.

They were then shocked when a bright spot emerged on the sun’s other side. Lovejoy lived.

“I was delighted when I saw it go into the sun and I was astounded when I saw something re-emerge,” said US Navy solar researcher Karl Battams.

Lovejoy did not exactly come out of its hellish adventure unscathed.

Only 10% of the comet — which was probably millions of tonnes — survived the encounter, said W Dean Pesnell, project scientist for Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which tracked Lovejoy’s death-defying plunge.

And the comet lost something pretty important: its tail.

“It looks like the tail broke off and is stuck” in the sun’s magnetic field, Pesnell said.

Comets circle the sun and sometimes get too close. Lovejoy came within 121,000 kilometres of the sun’s surface.

Astronomers say it probably did not melt completely because the comet was larger than they thought.

It will be another 800 or 900 years before it nears the sun again.