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This GIF shows the SOHO satellite view of the comet on December 14, the same day as the total solar eclipse. The white mark points to the comet.
ESA / NASA / SOHO / Karl Battams
If you saw the Total solar eclipse of December 14 in person, online or in later images, you probably didn’t notice that an additional celestial object had a subtle appearance. A newly discovered comet approached the sun at the same time.
Thai amateur astronomer Worachate Boonplod was the first to find the comet through NASA’s Sungrazer Citizen Science Project. The project challenges people to detect new comets in observations from NASA and the European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, also known as SOHO.
The comet, named C / 2020 X3 (SOHO), was a Kreutz solar scraper, one of a group of comets that have a common point of origin and are fragments of what was once a single comet. “To date, 4,108 comets have been discovered in SOHO images, and this comet is Kreutz’s 3,524th solar trail seen,” NASA said in a statement last week.
Boonplod discovered the comet the day before the total solar eclipse, which swept through a narrow area of South America.
The comet not only appeared in the SOHO views, but could also be found in photos taken during Earth’s total eclipse. It wouldn’t be the kind of thing a casual viewer would notice because it’s a hard stain to see.
NASA tweeted a comparison of a SOHO image and a composite image by photographer Andreas Möller, who captured the eclipse from Argentina.
The comet was just 50 feet (15 meters) in diameter and was traveling at a speed of 450,000 mph (724,000 kph) at the time of the eclipse. His moments of glory were fleeting. NASA revealed its fate: “It then disintegrated into dust particles due to intense solar radiation.”
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