Astronomers have managed to record a rare event — the Sun literally incinerated two comets with an interval of only a few hours. Unique footage of the death of celestial bodies was captured by the LASCO space coronagraphs on October 10 and 11. This was reported at the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The video shows two small objects rushing towards the Sun and disappearing, evaporating in its atmosphere. Scientists note that such cases are extremely rare — usually comets pass at a safe distance, partially collapsing, but retaining the core.
According to researchers, both comets were probably born from the same gas-dust cloud at the dawn of the Solar System — more than 4.5 billion years ago. Such objects are considered to be among the oldest in our planetary system, and some of them may even be older than the Sun itself.
Scientists suggest that the recorded bodies were fragments of one large comet, once destroyed in a collision with an unknown object. This event probably changed their orbit, directing them straight to the Sun. "Some massive bodies are able to survive several such encounters, but small comets, like drops of water, evaporate at the first contact with the star," the laboratory explained.
Such "suicidal" comets are known as "sun-grazing" comets — they enter the upper layers of the solar corona and die from extreme temperatures exceeding one million degrees.