{"id":137422,"date":"2020-12-18T20:49:54","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T17:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/recently-discovered-comet-seen-during-2020-total-solar-eclipse\/"},"modified":"2020-12-18T20:49:54","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T17:49:54","slug":"recently-discovered-comet-seen-during-2020-total-solar-eclipse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/recently-discovered-comet-seen-during-2020-total-solar-eclipse\/","title":{"rendered":"#Recently discovered comet seen during 2020 total solar eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Recently discovered comet seen during 2020 total solar eclipse<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n (left) The LASCO C2 camera on the ESA\/NASA SOHO observatory shows comet C\/2020 X3 (SOHO) in the bottom left-hand corner. (right) A composite image of the total solar eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020, based on 65 frames taken by Andreas M\u00f6ller (Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V.) in Piedras del Aguila, Argentina, and processed by Jay Pasachoff and Roman Vanur. Credit: ESA\/NASA\/SOHO\/Andreas M\u00f6ller (Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V.)\/processed by Jay Pasachoff and Roman Vanur\/Joy Ng. Eclipse image used with permission.
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As Chile and Argentina witnessed the total solar eclipse on Dec. 14, 2020, unbeknownst to skywatchers, a little tiny speck was flying past the Sun\u2014a recently discovered comet.<\/p>\n


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This comet was first spotted in satellite data by Thai amateur astronomer Worachate Boonplod on the NASA-funded Sungrazer Project\u2014a citizen science<\/a> project that invites anyone to search for and discover new comets in images from the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, or SOHO.<\/p>\n

Boonplod discovered the comet on Dec. 13, the day before the eclipse. He knew the eclipse was coming, and was eager to see whether his new comet discovery might app<\/a>ear in the Sun’s outer atmosphere as a small speck in eclipse photographs.<\/p>\n

The comet, named C\/2020 X3 (SOHO) by the Minor Planet Center, is a ‘Kreutz’ sungrazer. This family of comets originated from a large parent comet that broke up into smaller fragments well over a thousand years ago and continues to orbit around the Sun today. Kreutz sungrazing comets are most commonly found in SOHO images. SOHO’s camera works by mimicking total solar eclipses: A solid occulting disk blocks out the otherwise blinding light of the Sun, revealing dimmer features in its outer atmosphere and other celestial objects like comets. To date, 4,108 comets have been discovered in SOHO images, with this comet being the 3,524th Kreutz sungrazer spotted.<\/p>\n

Around the time the eclipse image was taken, the comet was travel<\/a>ing at roughly 450,000 miles per hour, about 2.7 million miles from the Sun’s surface. The comet was around 50 feet in diameter\u2014about the length of a semitruck. It then disintegrated to dust particles due to intense solar radiation, a few hours before reaching its closest point to the Sun.<\/p>\n\n

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Image: ESA, NASA’s SOHO sees bright sungrazer comet\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Recently discovered comet seen during 2020 total solar eclipse (2020, December 18)
\n retrieved 19 December 2020
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2020-12-comet-total-solar-eclipse.html<\/p>\n

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
\n part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n