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NASA's "Best Video Yet" Shows Comet ISON Hurtling Past Earth

The video from NASA's STEREO spacecraft shows the comet and its fiery tail traveling toward the sun.


NASA is tracking the Comet ISON as it hurtles past Earth, and recently released this video shot over a five-day period from Nov. 20 to Nov. 25, which the space organization described as the "best video yet" of the comet.

NASA discussed whether the comet would break apart soon, writing, "A comet’s journey through the solar system is perilous and violent. A giant ejection of solar material from the sun could rip its tail off. Before it reaches Mars -- at some 230 million miles away from the sun -- the radiation of the sun begins to boil its water, the first step toward breaking apart. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether."

The video was shot from NASA's STEREO spacecraft's Heliospheric Imager.


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