Set the controls for the heart of the sun: Comet meets fiery end at dead centre of solar system

By DUNCAN MACPHERSON
Updated:

This doomed comet never had a chance - when it entered our solar system, it was already on a collision course with the sun. Now its demise has been captured in an unforgettable video.

Amateur astronomers Michal Kusiak of Poland and Sergei Schmalz of Germany spotted it on Tuesday. A day later it was swallowed by the sun.

According to Spaceweather.com, the comet had broken off from a larger part of the Kreutz family of comets. Such bodies are usually too small to see, but in this case, it was just big enough to remain visible.

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This still from a video taken by the Soho orbiting observatory shows a comet (circled) streaking toward the Sun. The sun has just fired off a coronal mass ejection; Venus is the large, bright object on the left.

This still from a video taken by the Soho orbiting observatory shows a comet (circled) streaking toward the Sun. The sun has just fired off a coronal mass ejection; Venus is the large, bright object on the left.

The entire event was filmed by the European Space Agency's orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (Soho).

The comet headed for the Sun - masked by an opaque disc to enable filming - just hours after a massive solar storm, but experts said it is unlikely that the two incidents were linked.

Space.com said the comet was 'dragged' into the sun, which has recently been unleashing more coronal mass ejections and strong solar flares as it works toward a maximum in its 11-year activity cycle.

'Just last week, for example, the sun generated two X-class flares — the strongest type — and three CMEs,' the website reported.

Another comet was recorded hitting the sun last May, seemingly creating a massive coronal ejection.

However, while there seems to be an ejection following this collision as well, the majority of scientists say there is currently no definitive proof to suggest the two  events are related.

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