From Physorg.com
Comet Lovejoy was only discovered a couple of weeks ago. It was supposed to melt as it came so close to the sun that the temperatures would hit several million degrees.
But astronomers watching live with NASA telescopes were shocked when a bright spot emerged on the sun’s other side. Lovejoy lived.
Here’s some video of the encounter:
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spectacular!
The surface of the sun is at several thousand degrees not several million. Some of the tenuous flares from the surface have temperatures in the millions but they are tenuous and do not contain much heat
There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Kindest Regards
Tom Gray says:
December 16, 2011 at 8:42 pm
The surface of the sun is at several thousand degrees not several million. Some of the tenuous flares from the surface have temperatures in the millions but they are tenuous and do not contain much heat
Similarly, the solar wind through which the comet has traveled for thousands of years is of the order of 100,000 degrees hot [which is what makes it expand away from the sun at several hundred km per second, but it is so thin that there is almost no actual heat to warm anything.
Maybe the answer is that it’s not “icy” at all.
Maybe it’s “rocky”.
Maybe the EU people are right about comets.
And asteroids. And ….
I am thinking of how far we have come, and where we might go……………
Most fascinating and instructive in illustrating just how much we in fact do not know but wish we did.
Maybe they should rename the comet “baked Alaska”.
Some worry about a one or two degrees that could possibly wipe out the human race… a chunk of ice brushes with the sun and survives… enough said.
According to Al Gore is the core of the Earth that reaches several million degrees.
Tom Gray says:
December 16, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Some of the tenuous flares from the surface have temperatures in the millions but they are tenuous and do not contain much heat
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Tom, I’m not wishing to be critical, and I would expand and expound if you don’t wish, but for many, the sentence above would require an explanation before understanding is achieved.
I know ….but heat, energy, temps…I’m not much on the dynamics of the sun… c’mon man!
More movies at spaceweather.com. Check LASCO yourself here:
http://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/soho_movie_theater
Both C2 and C3 are interesting. Select on of these and the start and end dates, Try 2011-12-15 and 2011-12-16. If you look carefully, there is a surprise. Lovejoy was not alone. Alas, his companion was not so lucky.
Very few things are as stable as water. And ice is one tough solid as most know. It can take a lot of blast. Because it does not transmit heat well. Makes an excellent bomb shelter.
At least that is the way i learned it.
Oh, and I almost forgot: Several million degrees, eh? Was that Kelvin or Celsius? ;->
Look, just for a moment, bury whatever ails ya. And just appreciate the locale. The local cosmic neighborhood. Try enjoying when and where we live.
“It was supposed to melt”
Why are we to assume it did not? Why can’t that smear that crossed my screen be dirty water (vapor?) rather then dirty ice?
Why would melting change the the orbit of a comet?
NASA release
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/16dec_cometlovejoy/
Now that was a HOT encounter…. and ‘Yes’… Coronas were involved
“Strangers in the night…. exchanging momentum..”
Fire and Ice – Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those that favor fire!
But if it had to perish twice,
I know enough of hate
to say that, for destruction ice
is also great
and would suffice.
Do you want fries with that?
Loved the wriggly tail on the way in…….awesome!
Tom Gray says:
Tom, I’m not wishing to be critical, and I would expand and expound if you don’t wish, but for many, the sentence above would require an explanation before understanding is achieved.
I know ….but heat, energy, temps…I’m not much on the dynamics of the sun… c’mon man!
It’s a complex subject. I usually don’t dump people into a web site but I think this will give you the basics.
http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/light_lessons/thermal/
Wow! Not sure why it matters, but it sure seems to. That is one tough dirty-snowball!
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Tom Gray says:
December 16, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Some of the tenuous flares from the surface have temperatures in the millions but they are tenuous and do not contain much heat
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Darn my thermodynamic training:
The classical thermodynamic definition of heat is the transfer of energy across a system boundary due to a temperature difference–from a higher temperature to a lower temperature. As heat is a transient phenomenon, it is not possible for something to contain heat.
Jim
James Sexton says:
December 16, 2011 at 9:40 pm
I know ….but heat, energy, temps…I’m not much on the dynamics of the sun… c’mon man!
The average energy of a molecule or atom is proportional to the absolute temperature. The total energy of a volume of gas [though which the comet flies] is the energy of a single atom times the number of atoms.If the density of the gas is very low, there are not many atoms so the total energy [need to heat the comet] is also very low.
What a great object lesson on the scientific method for my students–you make a prediction based on what you already know or can find out, then see if it happens. If it doesn’t, you get to try to figure out why!
Science is awesome.
Hmm… after that slingshot, where’s Lovejoy going now?