Holy Crap!

[n2doc]

First, watch this sequence:




What is it? It’s an animation made from images taken by ESA’s SOHO solar observatory showing a comet diving into the Sun on October 1, and then a large CME (coronal mass ejection) erupting immediately thereafter.

Now, typically science has said that there is no connection between comets impacting the Sun and CMEs, or any other major eruption event. Comets are just too small to cause something like that to occur. Right?

http://lightsinthedark.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/can-comets-cause-cmes/

[abelenkpe]

1. YIkes nt

[DirkGently]

2. Whoa.

[annabanana]

3. Just how big was that comet?. . .. . ..n/t

[jberryhill]

4. The later frames were even cooler..

[toddwv]

5. Alien missile.

We're under attack!

[obxhead]

6. Wow, that was cool.

[Angry Dragon]

7. What do they expect when they draw a bulls-eye on the sun

[Arctic Dave]

8. Snarf! LOL!

+1,000

[Confusious]

9. Personally, I would say

It made what appears to be one. Since comets are mostly ice, it probably melted more and more as it got closer to the surface of the sun, turning into a plasma, then blasted outward by the solar wind before ever hitting the sun.

Of course, just a conjecture.

[Posteritatis]

13. It'd probably have to mass as much as the Earth for a blast of that size. (nt)

[Confusious]

16. Or it was closer.

perspective.

[Posteritatis]

17. Distance has nothing to do with it

You aren't getting the scale differences there. Something like this is the equivalent of walking into a gently floating speck of dust - a speck which is rapidly shrinking as it approaches you - and having it cause you physical damage on contact. It's just not going to happen.

[Confusious]

18. Distance has everything to do with it

if you scaled up the sun from that image to actual size, and then multiplied the size of the comet by that same number, it would be larger then the earth.

The comet is closer to the camera then the sun is, so it appears larger.

The material being thrown out to the left is also larger.

It never even hit the sun.

[Posteritatis]

19. Uhhh, no. (nt)

[Confusious]

20. Excellent retort.

How about it was all just a coincidence. The sun had a CME at the same time as the comet came around.

seriously. Thats what badastronomer speculates.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

10. If you haven't seen the movie "Sunshine"

Do it

[Confusious]

12. Good movie

Disturbing tho.

[Nostradammit]

11. "Back and to the left...."

"back, and to the left..."



Where was Poppy Bush on Saturday?

[callous taoboy]

14. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun

[RobertSeattle]

15. Oh please, the first does not cause the latter

The comet would have a trivial amount of mass compared to mass ejection.

Debunked by a real scientist.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/10/04/the-comet-and-the-coronal-mass-ejection/

[petronius]

21. OMG! They killed Kenny!

Cool images, now off to read the links...