C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy)The Kreutz sungrazer that survived its dive through the Sun's corona
Comet Lovejoy
Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) was a Kreutz-group sungrazer that stunned astronomers on 16 December 2011 by surviving a perihelion plunge to just ~140,000 km above the Sun's surface (about 1.2 solar radii) through the searing corona, where it had been expected to vaporize. It emerged battered but intact, growing a long spine tail and becoming a brilliant naked-eye "Great Christmas Comet of 2011" in Southern Hemisphere dawn skies. ISS Expedition 30 commander Dan Burbank captured its now-iconic images rising over Earth's limb from the International Space Station on 21-22 December 2011.
- Designation
- C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy)
- Type
- Sungrazer
- Orbital period
- ~622 years (Long-period)
- Discovery
- Discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy on 27 November 2011
