The comet is seen traveling at 450,000 miles per hour through intense sunlight in new images from the single eclipse
- A newly discovered comet was seen flying in the sun during the solar eclipse
- The comet was the size of a half-truck and traveled 450,000 miles per hour
- It was 2.7 million miles from the sun when it disintegrated into radiation
A newly discovered comet was seen flying at 2.7 million miles of sunshine during last week’s solar eclipse, before disintegrating into dust particles from intense radiation.
Named C / 2020 X3 (SOHO), the comet was discovered by an amateur astronomer who researched the satellite data a day before the total December 14 solar eclipse.
The comet was part of the Kreutz sungrazer family, which came from a large parent comet that broke into smaller fragments thousands of years ago.
C / 2020 X3 appears as a small spot flying through the sky, but experts say it traveled at about 450,000 miles per hour while flying past the giant Earth star.
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A newly discovered comet was seen flying 2.7 million miles from the sun during last week’s solar eclipse before disintegrating into intense radiation.
The comet was discovered by Thai amateur astronomer Worachate Boonplod in the NASA-funded Sungrazer project.
This organization is a citizen science project that invites anyone to search for and discover new comets in images from the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA’s Solar and Heliosphere Observatory (SOHO).
When the comet was first discovered, Boonplod anticipated that it would fly over the sky during the solar eclipse and appear as a small flicker in the photos – and he was right.
On December 14, the comet was a small bright spot in the images of the solar eclipse.
The comet was part of the Kreutz sungrazer family, which came from a large parent comet that broke into smaller fragments thousands of years ago. C / 2020 X3 appears as a small spot flying through the sky, but experts say it traveled about 450,000 miles as it flew past the giant Earth star
Experts say he traveled about 450,000 miles an hour and measured about 50 meters in diameter – similar to the length of a semi-truck.
However, the comet disintegrated into dust particles due to intense solar radiation, a few hours before it reached its closest point to the Sun.
The total solar eclipse passed over South America last week, plunging thousands into Argentina and Chile in the dark for about two minutes.
Dozens of amateur and professional astronomers have installed telescopes on the slopes of Villarrica – one of the most active volcanoes in Chile – to observe the phenomenon.
The eclipse was to be visible along a 55-mile-wide corridor that ran along the Pacific coast of Chile, along the Andes mountain range, and into Argentina.
The total solar eclipse passed over South America last week, sinking thousands in Argentina and Chile in the dark for about two minutes
The event was eagerly anticipated among the indigenous Mapuche community in Chile – the largest such group in the south of the country.
“Today we all hoped for a sunny day, but nature gave us rain and at the same time gives us something we need,” Estela Nahuelpan, a leader in the Mateo Nahuelpan community in the south of Carahue, told AFP.
“In the Mapuche culture, the eclipse has different meanings – I’m talking about ‘Lan Antu’, such as the death of the sun and the conflict between the moon and the sun.”
“It refers to the necessary balance that must exist in nature,” she explained.
In another tradition, an eclipse means the temporary death of the sun during a battle between the star and an evil force known as “Wekufu”.