SUNGRAZING COMET ALERT...

A comet just discovered by NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is plunging toward the sun. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has an excellent view of the ongoing encounter. Click on the image to set the scene in motion:

Will the icy visitor survive? The drama will play itself out in the hours ahead.

This kamikaze comet is probably a member of the Kreutz sungrazer family. Named after a 19th century German astronomer who studied them in detail, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a giant comet at least 2000 years ago. Several of these fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day. Most are too small to see. Today's fragment is a big exception.

Credit: The comet was found on Jan. 2nd by Australian amateur astronomer Alan Watson, who was inspecting images obtained by STEREO-A's Heliospheric Imager on Dec. 30, 2009.

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Good Clear Skies

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Astrocomet

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Colin James Watling

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Real Astronomer and head of the Comet section for LYRA (Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Regional Astronomers) also head of K.A.G (Kessingland Astronomy Group) and Navigator (Astrogator) of the Stars (Fieldwork)

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Web: http://lyra.freewebsites.com/