Check out the sungrazing comet that dove into our sun on April 12-13, 2025. Look in the bottom left of this image, inside the circle. The comet appears as a relatively bright and slow-moving dot, heading toward the sun, then suddenly fading away just before it enters the sun’s inner corona. Shortly afterwards, you’ll see a streak. That’s an energetic particle, probably a cosmic ray. See closeups of the comet and cosmic ray, below. Recent data suggest that over 5,000 sungrazing comets have been discovered, with most belonging to the Kreutz group, thought to be fragments from a larger comet that broke up long ago. Image via SDO and SOHO.
Closeup of the sungrazing comet, spied shortly before it appeared to disintegrate as it hit the sun’s inner corona. Note the head (the comet’s core) and the tail pointing away from the sun. Image via SDO and SOHO.Probably a cosmic ray. Not the comet! Note that the comet appears in multiple frames of the animation above, more than just 1 or 2. Cosmic rays appear brighter when they are farther away from the sun. They only appear in 1 or at most 2 frames of these sorts of images from SOHO. Their short-lived appearance is how scientists tell the difference between cosmic rays and sungrazing comets. Having multiple images is important! Image via SDO and SOHO.
Bottom line: The sungrazing comet appears as a relatively bright and slow-moving dot, heading toward the sun, then suddenly fading away.
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