Even those who do not study physics or astronomy likely know that the Sun is extremely hot, and anything that gets too close will simply melt. Recently, however, a comet flew close to the Sun, almost colliding with the “fireball”, leaving scientists puzzled by its “strange behavior.”
This comet is officially named 96P/Machholz 1, and it was captured in images by NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the European Space Agency (ESA) as it hurtled towards the Sun.
Comet 96P passing by the Sun. (Photo: NASA).
Typically, comets disintegrate when they approach the Sun, but 96P did not. Some scientists believe that its size (this comet is quite large, with a diameter of about 6 km, which is more than two-thirds the height of Mount Everest, according to LiveScience) allowed it to pass through the “Sun’s threshold” without completely breaking apart.
96P was first discovered in 1986. (Photo: NASA).
Karl Battams, director of the Sungrazer Project at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, wrote: “96P is one of the strangest comets in terms of both composition and behavior in the Solar System.”
One reason for this is that the tails of comets are typically composed of gas, but analyses of 96P show that it has lower than normal amounts of carbon and cyanogen gas.
As a result, many scientists believe that 96P is a “visitor” originating from somewhere outside our Solar System, and it was inadvertently pulled into the Solar System due to gravitational forces between planets.
However, some argue that 96P may have originated from a corner of the Solar System and is not merely a “distant guest,” but rather it has its own unique characteristics.
