Astroblog: Comet Lovejoy Plunges Towards the Sun (part 2)

Friday, December 16, 2011

Comet Lovejoy Plunges Towards the Sun (part 2)

Left Image: C/2011 W3 Lovejoy in SOHO C3 (15 December UT). Right Image: C/2011 W3 Lovejoy in STEREO beacon (low resolution) images in COR1B (15 December). Click to embiggen. Image credit NASA/SOHO and NASA/SECCHI. the SOHO image shows an ion tail you will eed to embiggen to see.

Comet C/2011 W3 Lovejoy continues to plunge towards the Sun. Around 2.5hours from perihelion, it is still bright (magnitude -6 maybe), and as yet undisintegrated. See Karl Battams site for mre images and details.

Earlier images and animations, 15 Dec 13 Dec, 12 Dec.

Labels: comet, comet lovejoy, comets, Kreutz, Soho, Stereo Satellite