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    "title": "Sungrazer",
    "description": "On November 27, 2011, an Australian amateur astronomer named Terry Lovejoy discovered a comet the old-fashioned way: from the ground, with his own personal telescope. Finding a comet before it moves into view of space-based telescopes gives scientists the opportunity to prepare their instruments to make the best possible observations. The sungrazing comet—named Lovejoy, or C/2011 W3 in the technical vernacular—ultimately crossed the sightlines of the mirrors and lenses on no less than five satellite observatories. And the results were spectacular. As it moved toward the sun, many comet-watchers predicted it would evaporate as it flew within 87,000 miles of the roiling hot surface. But comet Lovejoy elated spectators when it survived its death-defying trip and re-emerged on the other side, as shown in the first video below, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite on December 15, 2011. || ",
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            "description": "See [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/track-comet.html)",
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    "related": [
        {
            "id": 14552,
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            "page_type": "Produced Video",
            "title": "Volunteers Help ESA & NASA Mission to Discover 5,000 Comets",
            "description": "The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), a joint mission of ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA, has discovered its 5,000th comet, thanks to the help of volunteer comet hunters participating in the NASA-funded Sungrazer Project.The sungrazing comet was spotted in SOHO images on March 25, 2024, by Hanjie Tan in the Czech Republic, who has participated in the Sungrazer Project since he was 13 years old. The comet is small and has a short orbital period around the Sun. It belongs to the “Marsden group” of comets, which are thought to be related to the larger comet 96P/Machholz. The group is named after the late scientist Brian Marsden, who first recognized the group using SOHO observations.To learn more about the discovery and SOHO, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/esa-nasa-solar-observatory-discovers-its-5000th-comet/Since the early 2000s, the Sungrazer Project has allowed anyone with a computer to search for comets in images taken by the SOHO spacecraft.To learn more about the Sungrazer Project, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/citizen-science/the-sungrazer-project/ || ",
            "release_date": "2024-03-27T10:00:00-04:00",
            "update_date": "2024-03-26T15:33:26.792521-04:00",
            "main_image": {
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                "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014500/a014552/SOHO4995.00030_print.jpg",
                "filename": "SOHO4995.00030_print.jpg",
                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "This annotated movie from the European Space Agency & NASA’s SOHO observatory shows the 4,995th comet discovered by the spacecraft as it speeds toward the Sun on March 14, 2024.Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO/Karl Battams",
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        },
        {
            "id": 10886,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10886/",
            "page_type": "Produced Video",
            "title": "SDO Sees Comet Lovejoy Survive Close Encounter With Sun",
            "description": "One instrument watching for the comet was the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which adjusted its cameras in order to watch the trajectory. Not only does this help with comet research, but it also helps orient instruments on SDO—since the scientists know where the comet is based on other spacecraft, they can finely determine the position of SDO's mirrors. This first clip from SDO from the evening of Dec 15, 2011 shows Comet Lovejoy moving in toward the sun. Comet Lovejoy survived its encounter with the sun. The second clip shows the comet exiting from behind the right side of the sun, after an hour of travel through its closest approach to the sun. By tracking how the comet interacts with the sun's atmosphere, the corona, and how material from the tail moves along the sun's magnetic field lines, solar scientists hope to learn more about the corona. This movie was filmed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory in 171 angstrom wavelength, which is typically shown in yellow.Credit: NASA/SDO || ",
            "release_date": "2011-12-19T22:00:00-05:00",
            "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:53:22.302326-04:00",
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                "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a010800/a010886/Comet_Lovejoy_Still_2.jpg",
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