Comet travels at 450,000 miles per hour through the sun’s intense radiation in new images of the only solar eclipse
- During the eclipse, a newly discovered comet was seen flying through the sun
- The comet was the size of half a truck and was traveling 450,000 miles per hour
- It was 4.3 million miles from the sun when it broke up in the radiation
During last week’s eclipse, a newly discovered comet was spotted flying 2.7 million miles from the sun before breaking up into dust particles by the intense radiation.
The comet, dubbed C / 2020 X3 (SOHO), was discovered by an amateur astronomer searching satellite data the day before the total solar eclipse on December 14.
The comet was part of the Kreutz sungrazer family, which evolved from a large parent comet that broke into smaller fragments thousands of years ago.
C / 2020 X3 appears as a tiny speck flying through the sky, but experts say it traveled about 450,000 miles per hour as it zoomed past Earth’s giant star.
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During last week’s eclipse, a newly discovered comet was spotted flying 2.7 million miles from the sun before breaking up in the intense radiation
The comet was discovered by Thai amateur astronomer Worachate Boonplod on the NASA-funded Sungrazer project.
This organization is a citizen science project that invites everyone to search for and discover new comets in images from the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).
When the comet was first discovered, Boonplod expected it to skim across the sky during the eclipse and appear as a tiny speck in photos – and he was right.
On December 14, the comet was a small bright spot in images of the solar eclipse.
The comet was part of the Kreutz sungrazer family, which evolved from a large parent comet that broke into smaller fragments thousands of years ago. C / 2020 X3 appears as a tiny dot flying through the sky, but experts say it traveled about 450,000 miles as it zoomed past Earth’s giant star
Experts say it traveled about 450,000 miles per hour and was about 15 feet in diameter – comparable to the length of half a truck.
However, the comet disintegrated into dust particles as a result of intense solar radiation a few hours before it came closest to the sun.
The total solar eclipse engulfed South America last week, plunging thousands in Argentina and Chile into darkness for about two minutes.
Dozens of amateur and professional astronomers set up telescopes on the slopes of Villarrica – one of Chile’s most active volcanoes – to observe the phenomenon.
The eclipse would be visible along a 55-mile-wide corridor – running from Chile’s Pacific coast across the Andes Mountains to Argentina.
The total solar eclipse swept across South America last week, plunging thousands in Argentina and Chile into darkness for about two minutes.
The event was eagerly awaited by the indigenous Mapuche community of Chile – the largest of this group in the south of the country.
“ Today we were all hoping for a sunny day, but nature has given us rain and at the same time it gives us something that we need, ” Estela Nahuelpan, a leader in the Mateo Nahuelpan community in the southern city of Carahue, told AFP .
“In Mapuche culture, the eclipse has different meanings – they talk about ‘Lan Antu,’ such as the death of the sun and the conflict between the moon and the sun.”
“It refers to the necessary balance that must exist in nature,” she explains.
In another tradition, a solar eclipse means the temporary death of the sun during a battle between the star and an evil force known as ‘Wekufu’.