Comet, Close to the Sun, annotated
Edited SDO image of a comet's tail as it grazes the sun. Image taken in December of 2011. The sun is seen in the lower-left corner of the image (the arc in the upper-right just marks the edge of the round image). Annotated to show the comet's tail more clearly.
Original caption: Five Years of SDO Discoveries
A Comet's Tail: In December 2011, SDO caught images of Comet Lovejoy traveling around the sun – the first images ever captured of a comet traveling so low in the sun's atmosphere. Here, a time lapse photo show's the comet's trajectory as it moves away from the sun. The comet's evaporating gas, caught up in the sun's magnetic field can be seen moving out in different directions. Such images, therefore, provided not only a glimpse of how a comet loses material in the intense heat of the sun, but a visible tracer of the magnetic field lines looping through the sun's corona.
Credit: NASA/SDO
Read more: www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/sdo-telescope-collects-its-1...
NASA image use policy.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
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Comet, Close to the Sun, annotated
Edited SDO image of a comet's tail as it grazes the sun. Image taken in December of 2011. The sun is seen in the lower-left corner of the image (the arc in the upper-right just marks the edge of the round image). Annotated to show the comet's tail more clearly.
Original caption: Five Years of SDO Discoveries
A Comet's Tail: In December 2011, SDO caught images of Comet Lovejoy traveling around the sun – the first images ever captured of a comet traveling so low in the sun's atmosphere. Here, a time lapse photo show's the comet's trajectory as it moves away from the sun. The comet's evaporating gas, caught up in the sun's magnetic field can be seen moving out in different directions. Such images, therefore, provided not only a glimpse of how a comet loses material in the intense heat of the sun, but a visible tracer of the magnetic field lines looping through the sun's corona.
Credit: NASA/SDO
Read more: www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/sdo-telescope-collects-its-1...
NASA image use policy.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Find us on Instagram