In October 2024, something BRIGHT passed in front of one of our spacecraft:
a comet visiting us from the outer reaches of our solar system!
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS blazed through
the field of view of ESA/NASA's SOHO spacecraft,
which studies the Sun from about 1 million miles away from Earth.
This is the second-brightest comet SOHO has ever recorded
and it's been spotting comets since its launch in 1995 –
something the mission never expected to study!
As the comet crossed out of view,
SOHO spotted the trail of dust it left behind.
Because of the trail's orientation to SOHO,
it appears as the bright
diagonal “streak” across the image, like a sheet of paper viewed edge on.
Also visible as the comet passes by are a series of eruptions from the Sun,
which launch solar energetic particles – seen as white “flecks” across the image.
With the help of volunteer scientists across the globe,
over 5,000 comets have been discovered in SOHO imagery.