[meteorite-list] OT: Sungrazing comets and CMEs

From: Matson, Robert D. <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 18 May 2011 12:08:56 -0700
Message-ID: <9180F6B27399C541B10663E21C8BDE9201D450E4_at_0461-its-exmb09.us.saic.com>

Here's another (much less dramatic) event that occurred in
May 2008 with a very bright comet I discovered (SOHO-1476):

http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=news_arch89

(Scan down near the bottom of the page to May 29, 2008).

It was observed by three separate spacecraft -- SOHO, STEREO-A
and STEREO-B -- allowing a three-dimensional view of the event.
Thanks to the variety of aspect angles on the event, I was more
inclined to write this one off as a coincidence. Here's what
Karl Battams wrote:

"One final thing that may also not escape your attention is the
faint eruption ("Coronal Mass Ejection" or CME) that appears to
be caused by the comet. Actually, the two events are completely
unrelated and it is again thanks to the multiple viewpoints offered
by STEREO that we can say and prove this. When you watch movies of
the eruption, particularly in COR1-A but also when compared to
COR1-B, you see that the eruption occurred well away from the
comet. Additionally, the sun is HUGE and the comet is TINY (maybe
a couple of hundred meters)... it's like a bug hitting a freight
train, but with less mess."

A video of the comet and CME:

http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/images/soho1476/comet.mpg

--Rob
Received on Wed 18 May 2011 03:08:56 PM PDT