News in Brief Astronomy

Comet ISON approaches sun for Thanksgiving flyby

Ancient traveler could stay intact or break up

UP CLOSE  Comet ISON (far lower right), nearing its closest approach to the sun, is captured here on November 27 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The sun has been blocked to make the comet visible, but a coronal mass ejection can be seen (lower right).

SOHO/NASA, ESA

By Gabriel Popkin

- More than 2 years ago

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As Comet ISON nears the end of its several-million-year journey toward the sun, NASA and the European Space Agency’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory has provided a view of its approach.