ScienceCasts: Some Comets Like It Hot

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Astronomers are still scratching their heads over Comet Lovejoy, which plunged through the atmosphere of the sun in December and, against all odds, survived. The comet is now receding into the outer solar system leaving many mysteries behind.

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  Science & Technology

[Selena Gonzales]

People better behave cuz the world could end. If you shoot or dis respect god k so if u love your life then BEHAVE that's why several ppl getting shooted (true true) •___•

[Clemons Kunkel]

Comet (dirty ice ball) has two tails caused by the ice that is melted from the sun and the Solarwinds moving them. The tail is not the direction of the comet but the direction of the Solarwind.

[Iggyocracy - The OmniMalcontent]

Come On, not even a warning? There's kids watching! You can't just throw up blatant frauds like this! At least, a "we may have a drinking problem, this content may be disturbing to those with eyes & brains" or a "please pardon our anal leakage, it may be offensive to some viewers".

[EpicHeny]

:O

[liam quinn]

yes they are ... i think your mistaken for meteorites

[camellset]

comets are not always ice...

[addicted2info]

love never dies yo

[you2tooyou2too]

From other astronomical descriptions, and from just looking at the animations, it is not that the comet passed on the far side of the sun. Both the comet and the tip of the tail follow a smooth crescent (ellipse), except for the gap while the comet is tunneling. As for 'ice' surviving, I can imagine it is something like a long lasting drop of water on a hot skillet, where the vaporizing forms an efficient lubricating & insulating skin or shield.

[you2tooyou2too]

'Spark' seems wrong. The tail is presumably mostly compounds more volatile than 'rock', produced by the impact & gentle 'force' of the solar wind. As a comet get closer to the sun, the radiation/wind density increases, heating the sun-side surface, evaporating volatiles, & ablating some stable materials which are then all driven leeward, and illuminated & perhaps luminesced by the sunshine & wind.

I expect the tail to fail inside the atmosphere where terbulence prevails.