Comet Ison makes its closest approach to the Sun today.
One scientist likens the encounter to “throwing a snowball into a fire.” Comet Ison is approaching the Sun at over one million kilometers per hour and may not survive its closest flyby. BBC science reporter Rebecca Morelle likens Ison’s 1.2 million kilometer distance from the Sun to “effectively grazing its surface.”
That’s the bad news. The good news is that if the ice ball from the Oort Galaxy survives its journey, we should get a glimpse of it during the first two weeks of December.
You can read the full BBC News article here.
photo UCL Mathematical and Physical Science / Flickr