Comet 96P/Maccholz is passing by the Sun, now visible at STEREO and LASCO coronographs
Comet 96P/Machholz is passing by the Sun today deep inside the orbit of Mercury. At closest approach, it will be less than 0.13 AU from the solar surface. Comet 96P/Machholz is a short-period comet, completing an orbit around the Sun every 5.24-years.
Comet Machholz is making its fourth appearance in the LASCO C3 data. It will be visible in SOHO coronagraphs until July 17th. Comet 96P/Machholz has passed through the SOHO/LASCO C3 images three times now. It was also seen by our SECCHI HI1A instrument on STEREO satellite in 2007. Coronographs are using a disk to block the Sun’s bright surface, revealing the faint solar corona, stars, planets and sungrazing comets. In other words, it produces an artificial solar eclipse. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) has two coronagraphs onboard,LASCO C2 and LASCO C3.
Latest STEREO A/B
C2 coronagraph images are colored red; C3 coronagraph images are blue.
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