Skip to content

ISON’s Close Encounter with the Sun

The comet is believed to have broken up and evaporated. 
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

The images in the video below show Comet ISON growing dim as it made the journey around the sun. The comet was not visible at all in NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. The comet is believed to have broken up and evaporated. 

Nonetheless, researchers have been able to record a wealth of observations over the last year that will “will provide great research opportunities for some time. “

Watch here:

NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show Comet ISON dimming as it journeyed toward the Sun. 

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.
Related
A bearded man wearing glasses and a plaid shirt speaks with a microphone clipped to his collar in front of a purple background with white dots.
The Well
How Rainn Wilson discovered sacredness
The hospital where Rainn Wilson’s wife and son nearly died became his own personal holy site. There, he discovered that the sacred can exist in places we least expect it. During his talk at A Night of Awe and Wonder, he explained how the awe we feel in moments of courage and love is moral beauty — and following it might be the start of our spiritual revolution.
▸
13 min
—
with
Rainn Wilson
Up Next
The Tier-Ing of College, and the Damage Done
“If you want to go to a top-tier school…;” It’s a “lower-tier school, but good…” In conversations about college, you often hear rankings-focused comments. It’s difficult to remember the time […]