The LESCO C2 camera at the ESA / NASA Soho Observatory shows the comet C / 2020X3 (Soho) in the bottom left corner.
(Photo: ESA / NASA / SOHO / Andreas Moller)
An astronomer has flown a small thorn in the Sun’s past that is a rare comet discovered recently, as the world has seen a total solar eclipse this month.
The comet was first spotted in satellite data on a Sangraser project funded by NASA by Thai amateur astronomer Vorachet Boonplod, as Chile and Argentina saw a total solar eclipse on December 14th.
At the time the eclipse was photographed, the comet was traveling at a speed of about 4..3 million kilometers per hour from the surface of the sun, traveling 5,205 kilometers. The comet was about 50 feet in diameter – about half the length of a truck. It then disintegrated into dust particles due to intense sun radiation, just hours before reaching the nearest point to the sun.
Sungarazar is a civil science project inviting anyone to search and find images from the United European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory or SOHO. The day before the eclipse, Boonplod discovered a comet.
“He knew the eclipse was coming, and he’s eager to see if his new comet discovery looks like a small thorn in the eclipse’s photographs of the sun’s outer atmosphere.” The comet, named C / 2020 X3 (SOHO) by the Minor Planet Center, is a “Kreutz” snoozer.
This family of comets evolved from a large parent comet that broke into small pieces a thousand years ago and still orbits the sun today. Kreutzsungnagrazing comets are commonly found in Soho images.
To date, 4,108 comets have been found in Soho’s images, this is the 3,524th Kreutz astronaut, according to NASA.
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