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Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi
(TWAN)
Explanation:
After failing to appear for Sun staring spacecraft at perihelion,
its harrowing closest approach to the Sun,
sungrazing Comet ISON was presumed lost.
But ISON surprised
observers yesterday as material still traveling
along the comet's trajectory became visible and
even developed
an extensive fan-shaped dust tail.
Edited and processed to HD format, this video
(vimeo,
youtube)
is composed of frames from the
SOHO
spacecraft's coronographs.
It follows the comet in view of the
wide
(blue tint) and
narrow
(red tint) field cameras in the hours
both before and
after perihelion passage.
In both fields, overwhelming sunlight is blocked
by a central occulting disk.
A white circle indicates the Sun's positon and scale.
With questions
to be answered and the tantalizing possibility
that a small cometary nucleus has survived in
whole
or part,
surprising comet ISON will be rising before dawn in planet Earth's
skies in the coming days.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: comet - perihelion
Publications with words: comet - perihelion
See also:
- APOD: 2026 April 20 Á Comet R3 PanSTARRS over a Himalayan Valley
- APOD: 2026 April 18 Á PanSTARRS and Planets
- APOD: 2026 April 14 Á The Long Wispy Tail of Comet R3 (PanSTARRS)
- APOD: 2026 April 12 Á Comet R3 PanSTARRS Brightens
- APOD: 2026 February 17 Á Tails of Comet Wierzchoå
- Full Moonlight
- APOD: 2025 December 30 Á An Artificial Comet