Explanation:
This frame from a spectacular time lapse movie shows
Comet
McNaught - the Great
Comet of 2007 -
sweeping through
the inner solar system.
The movie frames were recorded from
January 12 through Jan 16 by a
coronograph onboard the
sun-staring SOHO spacecraft.
Bright planet Mercury also glides dramatically through
the field of view but the Sun itself remains fixed,
hidden behind the coronograph's central occulting disk.
The broad-tailed
comet is so
bright it almost overwhelms SOHO's
sensitive camera designed to explore the
fainter structures in
the Sun's outer atmosphere.
Comet McNaught's
closest approach to the Sun (perihelion on
January 12) was only 0.17
astronomical
units, or about half the distance between the Sun and Mercury.
(Note: To download the movie file, click on the picture.)
