Sungrazing Comet Turns to Cosmic Dust in Dramatic Halloween No-Show

A recently discovered comet met its demise during a dangerously adjacent brushwood with the Sun, breaking isolated into chunks and destroying immoderate anticipation of being spotted for Halloween.

NASA and the European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spotted Comet C/2024 S1 (ATLAS) arsenic it made its closest attack to the Sun connected Monday. The affectionately nicknamed Halloween Comet’s past moments were captured by SOHO arsenic it raced towards the prima and violently disintegrated into smaller fragments.

Wheeeeee! ☄️

ESA/NASA’s Sun-watching SOHO spacecraft spied comet C/2024 S1 ATLAS (entering from bottommost right) arsenic it darted toward the Sun.

The comet reached its perihelion, oregon closest attack of the Sun, contiguous astatine 7:30am ET. pic.twitter.com/T7kvthWOPe

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) October 28, 2024

“This comet was apt already a rubble heap by the clip it entered SOHO’s tract of view,” Karl Battams, main researcher for the LASCO instrumentality suite connected SOHO and pb for NASA’s Sungrazer Project, is quoted arsenic saying connected X.

It’s disappointing quality for entity watchers who had hoped to spot the comet streak crossed the skies this week, conscionable successful clip for the spooky holiday. However, the comet’s gruesome decease does unrecorded up to its nickname.

The Hawaii-based ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey archetypal spotted the comet connected September 27, and it rapidly gained notoriety for its imaginable to enactment connected a spectacular amusement successful the nighttime skies. Astronomers believed that the comet would beryllium disposable to the unaided oculus arsenic it approaches perihelion, oregon its closest region to the Sun, astatine 7:30 a.m. ET connected October 28.

During its closest attack to the Sun, Comet C/2024 S1 came arsenic adjacent arsenic 1% of the region betwixt Earth and the Sun. Unfortunately, the comet did not past its brushwood with the star, failing to amusement disconnected its agleam process to america Earthlings. In fact, it was already doomed earlier it got there. “Over the past fewer days, it has breached into chunks arsenic it approached the Sun,” NASA wrote connected X.

On the different hand, Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinan-Atlas), a comet originating from the Oort Cloud that was discovered by China’s Tsuchinshan Observatory successful January 2023, survived its ain perihelion connected September 27, and was disposable successful the skies to the unaided eye. This comet, however, lone came astir a 3rd of the region betwixt Earth and the Sun, according to NASA.

Comet C/2024 S1 belongs to a radical of comets known arsenic Kreutz sungrazers, named for their diagnostic adjacent attack to the Sun astatine perihelion. Astronomer Heinrich Kreutz was the archetypal to announcement that the radical of comets stock akin orbits, coming wrong a precise adjacent region to the Sun. The Kreutz sungrazers apt each came from a large comet that broke isolated years ago, and they each thin to beryllium connected the smaller side. That’s wherefore during their adjacent attack to the Sun, the sungrazers either wholly disintegrate oregon clang into the star. Some fortunate comets, however, bash past the adjacent encounter.

Most famously, Comet Lovejoy, discovered successful 2011, survived its perihelion and emitted a unsocial bluish and greenish glow that lit up the nighttime skies. Unfortunately, that didn’t past for precise agelong arsenic the comet’s nucleus disintegrated conscionable a fewer days aft its brushwood with the Sun. In 1965, comet Ikeya-Seki was discovered by 2 amateur astronomers from Japan. The comet besides survived its rendezvous with the Sun, and reached a brightness magnitude of -11, oregon astir arsenic agleam arsenic a half-Moon, and became disposable to the unaided eye.

If it had survived its adjacent attack to the Sun, the Halloween Comet would person reached a brightness magnitude of -7. That’s brighter than Venus, the brightest satellite successful the star system, which has a magnitude of -4.6. We missed retired connected a bully show, but the comet volition inactive spell down successful past arsenic a spooky legend.