Overview
- Astronomers confirm the comet broke apart after its close solar pass, likely due to extreme heating and the Sun’s tidal pull.
- The comet, which reached perihelion on April 4 at about 160,000 kilometers from the Sun, left no intact nucleus in view.
- SOHO’s LASCO and NOAA’s GOES CCOR-1 coronagraphs captured a faint dust trail with no comet head, according to VdS expert Uwe Pilz.
- Reports differ on the nucleus size, with estimates ranging from roughly 400 meters to as large as 2.4 kilometers.
- With the object gone, planned public viewings were dropped, including in Bavaria where a bright, naked-eye comet had been hoped for.