Was Comet ISON destroyed as it approached the Sun?

Comet ISON or commonly also called 'comet of the century' by scientists and astronomers eventually explode when approaching the Sun. The images from NASA spacecraft shows the moment of ISON on Thursday, November 28, 2013 approaching in around the Sun, but the comet was then not show up anymore.

The comet that may put on a spectacular light show during a November date with the Sun, was observed by the Deep Impact mission. The spacecraft has also had close fly-bys of comet's Tempel 1 and Hartley 2 and scientific observations of Garradd. (Picture from: http://www.livescience.com/)

"The possibility of ISON destroyed in that journey," said a solar system researcher, Karl Battams of the U.S. Navy, in the Google video conference as reported by BBC. And Phil Plait, an astronomer and author of Bad Astronomy blog says, "I think the comet does not make it past the Sun."

Comet ISON, imaged by longtime amateur astrophotograper Damian Peach in the U.K. He used a 17-inch telescope for 12 minutes of combined exposures on November 15th. (Picture from: http://www.space.com/)

Despite has the large size, the comet is likely to be destroyed and scattered due to exposure to the Sun's heat. The experts from the European Space Agency (ESA) that monitors the comet movement using Soho Sun satellite had taken the assumption that the comet's death around 21:30 GMT.

Previously, experts had predicted ISON comet likely be burned and broke into pieces as it approaches the Sun. However, some other experts argue, there is the possibility of the comet ISON will survive from the destruction and produce a great fireworks show. When the comet survived on its journey across the Sun, so it can be seen with the naked eye until December, 2013 from the northern hemisphere.

ISON comet was discovered by two Russian astronomers, i.e Vitali Neyski and Artyom Novichonok on September, 2012. Comets are named after the telescope that they use at the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) and dubbed 'comet of the century'.

Unlike Halley's Comet can be seen from Earth every 75 to 76 years, the hyperbolic comet such as ISON might be visible only once. Because the comet ISON is not in an orbit. This means that the researchers only have one chance to collect scientific data as much as possible from comet ISON. This comet is made of a combination of material allegedly left behind when the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC | SPACE | LIVESCIENCE]

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