A new image from NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory suggests the comet ISON has broken up.
NASA astronomers say ‘no more nucleus.’ Image credit: ESA / NASA / SOHO.
ISON, also known as C/2012 S1, is a sungrazing comet – a comet that passes extremely close to the Sun.
The comet was discovered on September 21, 2012 by scientists from Belarus and Russia.
ISON is a dynamically new comet coming from the Oort cloud. Its icy nucleus has been estimated at less than 2 km in diameter.
At the time of the ISON’s discovery, its apparent magnitude was about 18, far too dim to be seen with the naked eye.
Today, ISON is passing through the Sun’s atmosphere, flying about 1,100,000 km above the Sun’s surface.
The comet is about 30 times closer to the Sun than the comet Encke was in 2007 and more likely to encounter a ferocious solar storm.
This is the first trip of ISON into the inner Solar System, and likely the last.
U.S. Navy solar researcher Karl Battams comments: “ISON probably hasn’t survived this journey.”
Astronomers at the European Space Agency say: “part of ISON’s tail survived, but no nucleus.”
