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Can the Sun rip a comet's tail in half?

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A NASA mission just saw it happen.

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Enter comet Lemmon.

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For three months, NASA's PUNCH spacecraft

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watched this comet
as it passed by the Sun.

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PUNCH studies turbulent solar wind

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and massive eruptions from our Sun

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and how they interact with objects

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— like comets — in our solar system.

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In late October 2025, an eruption

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called a “coronal mass ejection”

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burst from the Sun.

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This sent a gust of electrically charged

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particles and magnetic fields

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flowing outward.

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Soon after,
part of the comet's tail

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wavered, ripped apart,

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and then disappeared, almost like smoke.

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Three days later, it happened again.

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Comet Lemmon actually has two tails:

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one made of dust,

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and one made of electrically charged gas.

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The gas tail tore apart in response

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to the Sun's activity,

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while the dust tail remained intact.

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PUNCH photographed the comet
every 4 to 8 minutes

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across three months — creating one of the longest

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and most detailed records
of a comet interacting with the Sun.

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The mission is helping us
learn about powerful solar storms

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and how they influence
the entire solar system —

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from comets like this one

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to life here on Earth.