#sungrazer

The Robin's Egg Nebula (NGC 1360, right) and Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) // Team Ciel Austral, Chassaigne, Philippe BERNHARD, & Stephane Vetter

The best seats in the house...

This breath-taking image shows the Lovejoy Comet as it flew over the Southern Hemisphere back in December 2011 and of course, the staff of the International Space Station enjoyed a front seat view.

The expedition 30 crew captured video footage of the event and astronaut Dan Burbank describes the sight as “one of the most amazing things” he has ever seen in space- which let’s face it, is probably a tough competition!

The comet, officially labelled C/2011 W3, or Lovejoy to you and me, was discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy on Nov. 27, 2011. It is part of a family of comets known as Kreutz sungrazers, which are thought to be pieces of a much larger comet that broke up centuries ago but maintain the same orbit. They are termed sungrazers as their orbits take them near to the Sun, where radiation and the solar wind interact with the icy comet nuclei to produce striking visual displays of halos and tails. This journey of Lovejoy’s was feared to be its last with many scientists expecting it to be swallowed up by the Sun. But, alas, it survived.

Aside from the beautiful display of the comet, this image also hosts some of the features more close to home. The bright orange and yellow colours near Earth are light from the Sun being distorted by our atmosphere. Also visible is the Earth’s airglow, which you can see here as the green and the yellow colouration. Airglow occurs as a result of light being emitted by light and molecules in the upper atmosphere; excited by ultraviolet radiation.

All in all, this image is incredible and one can only imagine what it’s like to witness this sight first hand.

Jean

Image courtesy of NASA.

Sungrazer

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