Extreme Survivalists: An Icy Wanderer

By Hannah Mohr, 11th grade

Compared to the objects within our solar system, the sun is hot. Very hot. The sun's corona can reach temperatures of two million degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 million degrees Celsius). So on Thursday, December 15, when a comet flew within 87,000 miles (140,000 kilometers) of our star's surface, most people believed it was a suicide mission and left it at that.

However, the comet known as Lovejoy was not to be so easily forgotten. Researchers, expecting to witness the complete vaporization of a large comet, instead saw Lovejoy emerge from the sun and shoot back into space safe and sound.

Lovejoy is relatively large, with a core about 660 feet (200 meters) wide, and it belongs to the Kreutz class. The Kreutz class of comets is named for 19th-century German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz who first determined that all Kreutz comets are related and came from one huge comet that shattered centuries ago. Kreutz comets also fall under the classification of sungrazers, meaning that their orbits take them dangerously close to the sun.

The entire event might have been missed if Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy had not noticed the comet's path on November 27th. As it was, scientists had plenty of time to prepare for the comets supposed destruction. Eighteen instruments on five satellites watched the spectacular death-defying event as Lovejoy, essentially a chunk of ice, withstood the impossibly hot temperatures of the sun. NASA even set up a website detailing the progress of Lovejoy, which can be found here: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/lovejoy.php.

So when it came to a showdown between a chunk of ice and a huge burning ball, the ice survived against terrible odds. Go Lovejoy!
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