Signal
3 articles covering "solar-physics"
The first dual-coronagraph record of a Kreutz sungrazer's destruction and a pre-print tracing the comet's 1,663-year orbit to a daylight comet of 363 AD are reshaping models of cometary survival and the family's ancient genealogy.
The Kreutz sungrazer broke apart approximately six hours before reaching its closest point to the Sun on April 4, peaking at magnitude -0.6 in coronagraph imagery before its nucleus shattered. Only submicron dust debris emerged on the far side, leaving nothing visible from the ground.
The farthest Kreutz sungrazer ever discovered will pass just 161,000 kilometers above the Sun's surface on Saturday, threading the inner solar corona in a make-or-break encounter that could produce a comet visible in broad daylight or end in total disintegration.