On July 5th 2011, a comet passed very close to the sun and in return our sun completely obliterated it! This is extremely exciting because NASA scientists have managed to capture this interaction on video and have shared the events of July 5th for all of the world to see:
From the NASA website:
On the evening of Tuesday, July 5, a comet flew into the sun. Such comets are not unusual, and they're called "sungrazers" since they come so close to the star that it is believed they evaporate and disappear. However, no one has actually seen the end of that journey, since the comets are best seen in cameras from SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory) that block out the bright disk of the sun itself.
But this was different. For the first time ever, SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) captured a 20-minute movie of the comet streaking directly in front of the sun. It's not immediately obvious, but if you watch the movie closely, you'll see a line of light appear in the right and move across to the left.
Source: NASA.gov
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