An enormous foreign comet, presumably from outside the earth's solar system, has been seen to straightly blaze toward the sun. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft of the European Space Agency monitors the comet as it moves toward the giant star within Mercury's orbit.
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Comet 96P/Maccholz 1 Will Be Three Times Closer Than Mercury to the Sun
According to Live Science, this iceball comet is known as 96P/Machholz 1. It has a width of 3.7 miles and is assumed to be from outside the earth's solar system.
The comet also leaves a trail of ice behind. The tails of comets are mainly made of gas, which trickles behind ice and gas clumps that get heated by the radiation of the sun.
In 2008, scientists looked into material that was shed by 150 comets. They discovered that 96P/Machholz 1 had less than 1.5% of the expected cyanogen levels. On top of this, the comet was also seen to have low carbon levels. This led the astronomers to conclude that the comet could be from a different solar system.
Live Science reports that the comet was first spotted in 1986 by David Maccholz through a handcrafted telescope made of cardboard. While most comets that surge toward the sun usually have a width that does not exceed 10 meters, the Maccholz comet had a gigantic size that seemingly stopped it from completely evaporating.
Ever since it was first discovered, the SOHO has observed that the comet has made five different passes toward the sun.
Now, the comet's surge toward the sun may lead to more of its mysteries being uncovered. In fact, according to In The Sky, the iceball's closest approach to the sun will be this January 31. The comet will be close to the sun at a proximity that is three times that of Mercury's distance from the sun.
Astrophysicist Karl Battams from the Naval Research Lab in Washington, DC, notes how the comet is quite atypical when it comes to behavior and composition. With this, observations of this peculiar comet can hardly be predicted.
Behind the Observation: European Space Agency's (ESA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)
Live Science notes that ever since it was first launched in 1995, the SOHO has spotted over 3,000 comets. The craft has a wide spectrum of focus, including the sun's interior and visible surface as well as various regions across the solar system.
The craft's discoveries cover magnetic field pattern changes and complex gas currents that flow under the visible surface of the solar system. Within the atmosphere of the sun, SOHO also sees tornadoes, significant shock waves, and explosions.
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