By Robert Roy Britt -- Space.com
Nov. 6, 2006 -- A comet made a death plunge into the Sun Friday, disintegrating as its icy chemicals vaporized on the way in.
An animation showing the comet's plunge was made with images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).All comets orbit the Sun, and most do so on elongated paths that can pass through the inner solar system before winging out well beyond Pluto. Solar radiation heats a comet and burns off some of the ice and dust that it is made of, creating a cloud of material and sometimes a tail. The dust and gas scatter sunlight, making the comet bright.
Those comets that come very close to the Sun are called sungrazers.
A few get too close.
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