Published on November 27, 2017
Comet Lovejoy blazes toward the sun and its tail wiggles as it interacts with the solar wind. By the end of the day on December 15, 2011, the comet will graze some some 75,000 miles above the sun’s surface through the several million degree solar corona, and quite likely evaporate. Five different satellites — the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), the Solar Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Hinode, and Proba — are trying to watch its final approach to the sun. This movie was recorded by STEREO using the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) instrument.
