The solar neighborhood is busy this week, with a fantastic solar eruption on Monday and now a sun-grazing “Kreutz” comet on Tuesday! These images were compiled from the SOHO/LASCO C2 database:
SOHO’s LASCO instrument is a set of two coronagraphs that image the solar corona from about 462-thousand to about 13.4-million miles. A coronagraph is a telescope that blocks light from the solar disk, and the corona is the plasma atmosphere surrounding the Sun. C2 has a 3-degree field of view and C3 has a 16-degree field of view. The Sun, by comparison, is 0.5-degrees across – you can see it as the white outlined circle in the center of the LASCO images.
Click here to see SOHO launching from Cape Canaveral in December 1995. Click here to see the latest SOHO images. Click here to learn more about Kreutz and other sungrazing comets.
Tags: Comets, kreutz, SOHO, solar, sungrazing
You are absolutely correct. There is a smaller comet trailing alongside the larger Kreutz. It is just barely visible in this smaller animation.
Thanks so much! Can you tell us where we can find such information for ourselves? Are there any charts that are easy for novices to read showing planetary movement within Soho’s cameras?Also, has anyone taken a recent picture of Elenin? And finally, when should we expect to see Elenin in Soho?