In December 2011, space telescopes witnessed an event that astonished astronomers. A comet plunged deep through the atmosphere of the Sun and survived.
Comets are reckoned to be pretty insubstantial things, despite their sometimes lengthy, spectacular tails. So this ball of rock and ice, called Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3), had been expected to break up and become vaporised in the encounter.
In fact the comet came out relatively unscathed, grew a fresh magnificent tail and became an impressive sight for astronauts on the International Space Station as well as on Earth.
By: Paul Sutherland, Sen.com, Edited by: Kadhim Shubber
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via Wired.co.uk
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/12/comet-lovejoy
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