Comets That Flew Too Close to the Sun Captured on Camera 

With friends, I organized a 'ghost tour' through the woods for a class of kids my friends' dad taught. I was posted at the edge of the woods and waiting for the kids to pass by. From the forest, I had a view over a wide field with clear skies. A very, very quiet spot. As I looked up at the stars, this bright flash appeared, crossed the sky, the object emitted a green glow, a long trail of smoke following it with this massive roar. And then it was gone. Probably not comet, right? But it was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. I'd seen falling stars before but I had never heard one.

I was fortunate to catch Hale-Bopp as a child and Neowise last year. While both were equally beautiful, nothing will ever compare to the first time peering into the night sky and noticing the blurry orb of Hale-Bopp silently hovering among the stars. I'll treasure that memory forever.

My first comet was halle-bop and I remember it clearly as my dad took me out on a new moon night and we got to see it over the coast mountains of BC. We also were treated to northern lights in the other direction which was rare for Vancouver Island.

I feel like they missed the chance to call these “icarus comets.”

1986, Haley's comet, I was old enough to understand importance of what i'm seeing, even tried to take few photos with my plastic 36mm camera :D :D

Seeing comet Neowise last year with my bare eyes was one of the most incredible things ever. It was very faint at first and barely visible through binoculars, and then for about two weeks got very bright, after which it changed color to green and fainted back into darkness. Watching it in the airplane-less Corona lockdown sky in the warm summer nights was a one in a lifetime experience.

Shoemaker Levy 9 was possibly one of the most intriguing and amazing astronomical events that happened in my opinion. A comet torn apart by immense gravitational force, then colliding with and scarring a gaseous planet, not to mention the king of the gaseous planets, was absolutely mind blowing. Wish today's tech existed back then.

Comets I have seen: Halley (1986), Hyakutake (1996), Hale-Bopp (1996), McNaught (2007). Of all Comet Hyakutake was amazing with McNaught a close second. McNaught was visible in daylight on 12-13 January 2007 near the sun. I remember seeing it just after sunset on 14 January (and for several days after) from west of Sydney; the trail was 20-30 degrees in length.

I subscribed because you showed me the most fascinating interactions of objects with the sun and its corona that I've ever seen. Keep showing me new stuff and I'll be here frequently. Amazing.

Thanks for making those videos man, they are so relaxing to watch. Keep it up!

I once had a job that put me outdoors overnight. From my vantage point from latitude 38 degrees north, I watched a comet slowly cross the southern sky low to the horizon for three consecutive nights. It was sometime during or near 1984, probably fall or winter since visibility was crystal clear. No telescope or even binoculars. It was impressively beautiful.

Never seen a comet with my own eyes, but I recall watching the coverage of Shoemaker-Levy 9 and its spectacular demise. That was VERY interesting! Comets are just fascinating objects.

Halle-Bop also my most memorable .. in a dark sky the faint part of the tail seemed to stretch 1/4 across the whole sky.. incredible!

As a small child I was always thrilled with the thought of observing comets, particularly those observable with the naked eye, and I read about Halley's comet and waited very impatiently for its return in 1986. Unfortunately it was the farthest from the earth that it gets at perihelion and instead of a brilliant comet with a long tail it presented as little more than a fuzzy blot. To make up for that the universe provided me with the opportunity to see comet Hyakutake when it made its closest approach to Earth. It was spectacular. Even in the city it was visible but from the dark sky location I was observing at you could see the tail and it stretched out over 11 degrees in length (22 full moon widths). I thought my comet watching life was complete at that point and then was treated to several weeks of observations of comet Hale-Bopp. While not as spectacular as Hyakutake it was observable for a much longer amount of time and presented a tail of 2-3 degrees during most of its time before and after perihelion. I can hardly wait to discover what the next naked eye comet brings.

Like many others here, the only comet I was able to see was Hale-Bopp back in the mid-90s. It was quite amazing! I live in the middle of a town with a lot of light pollution, yet it was still clearly visible with the naked eye and even better with binoculars! Some years earlier, back in ‘87 I believe it was. I tried to catch Haley’s comet…unsuccessfully. Hale-Bopp made up for that in spades though 💫

My first sight of a comet was Hale Bob in the 90s and it was super magnificent

Last comet I saw in the sky was Hale-Bopp back in the late 90s.

"They approach the Sun, sometimes accelerating to 0.2% of the speed of light" That's no surprise. The velocity of an object on a highly elliptical orbit at its perihelion (closes point) approaches the escape velocity, which at the Sun's surface is 618 km/s, or slightly above 0.2% of speed of light.

Thanks for the amazing video, as usual. This one was particularly interesting (they all are interesting but I hadn’t heard the term “sungrazers before). I’m always learning new things from your videos and the quality is always top-tier. Keep up the great work my dude.

I thought it wrote "Sungazers" and it sounded like a mysterious badass alien sighting or something.. But I guess this is cool, too!

Your videos are always a source of great inspiration. :)

ALWAYS amazing videos here! Thank you for sharing the visuals and the information! I really appreciate your work.

I feel like im such an odd person. Im in construction ex mechanic but i LOVE knowledge and this kind of stuff. Yet im surrounded by fools highly religious and rarely educated well. I remember my 1st comet it was what late 80s early 90s? Cant remember but it was a big deal. That and eclipses ive seen 2 in my life i feel very lucky to understand these things. Shoulda went to college but thats ok i dont lose knowledge so ill keep gaining it

I've seen 4, with Hyakutake being my favorite. Despite knowing a fair amount about them, it still weirds me out knowing these speedy piles of matter are whipping around us. It's going to be great when we can catch up and mine them. There's certainly enough fuel on location to redirect them.

In 1997 I was flying home at night from a business trip. The back of the plane was mostly unoccupied and dark so I went back there and looked out at comet Hale-Bopp. We were above 30,000 ft. so the view of this beautiful comet was spectacular! A rare lifetime experience.

Your videos are so well composed! Script, excellent audio mix etc.

I was 6 years old when Haley's comet rolled by. It was quite the event. I have a feeling i'll live long enough to see it again..

Thanks for sharing these really cool visuals with us, along with the nice explanation!

Simply fascinating. Thanks for this video.

Amazing views of the sun 👏 those impacts and CMEs don't look coincidental

This is the coolest astronomy yt vid I've seen in a while, and I try to watch as many as I can. Thank you

I really Loved and Enjoyed this! Your posting of the Sun grazing comets are Fascinating and most complete as far as the History and Science of them. Thank You Very much for the Information! 🤩

This is one of the most unique and fascinating channels on RU-vid. Thank you for sharing your passion and knowledge of astronomy with us!

These videos are always fascinating

This is awesome. I never knew these existed..obviously.. Hale Bopp was the first and only comet I've seen. I only wish I was mature enough appreciate what I was looking at. Thanks so much Alex.

Watching these sun clips with the comets is really satisfying.

Thank you for continuing to make amazing content. Please keep it up. You are doing a great service.

Another high quality content. Keep up the awesome work.

As always, Amazing video alex.

Missed Halley's by 5 years, but I definitely remember Hale-bopp very well. I was young, but it's visage is forever burned into my mind.

This channel is so informative. It's my favorite.❤

Great video as always 👍

I love every videos you do. You do such a great job to explain things . Keep up the great work .

Thank you Alex!

Great presentation. Thanks.

Was waiting for the space ride! Tks! 👍

I am getting more and more interested to all those discoveries, thanks to the huge amount of data gathered through those equipment, satellites, probes sent out there in the cosmos. I heard once astro-physicians telling "the more we watch the cosmos, the more we realize how poor is our knowledge of it". So many things to understand! Thanks for sharing this interesting video.

Great video! Impressed as always!

Nice video..simple explanation and supporting images . Thx.

Very interesting and the fact that we have videos like that is awesome. Thanks for sharing your always-fascinating content and commentary with us.

Ciao Astrum 🇮🇹 beautiful channel 👏

Recall watching for many hours, at the end of March 1997, the comet Hale-Bopp. It was visible by the end of December 1996 from dark spots, but between February and March 1997 I was seeing her every other night - by the High Street of a shopping district, while all the bright shop lights were shining. It was a spectacular experience; some people were tantalised, while some other were scared. Thanks for the video Mr. Alex; all of your works are extremely informative and of excellent production.

I accidentally watched this upside down and had no idea until the end. That’s the great thing about space. 🤣

Hurray my favorite space channel

This was a nice video to enjoy over morning coffee. Thanks

great video thanks man

Amazing! In the 90's, we lived in Alpine, Wyoming, a small village in the mountains with no light pollution. We watched Hale-Bopp, and in the clear winter air you could easily make out its green hue and the tails arced across fully a third of the night sky. I'm still awed by it to this day. It was so bright where we lived we could take photos on film (before digital). After I retired from the Army, we moved back to Wyoming on some acreage way out in the country. Last summer we could see comet NEOWISE with the naked eye (it,too, seemed greenish). It was also amazing, but nowhere near the spectacle of Hale-Bopp. A friend from Atlanta was visiting us last summer and had no clue you could observe some comets with the naked eye!

Great footage and commentary! TFS, GB :)

Another one of your A+++++++++++++++++++ videos with amazing footage, a wonderful calm narration and stupendously excellent information on even the tiniest occurrences. I fell into your Tonga volcano video (my two passions are volcanos and space) and have been binge-watching your stuff ever since. Please continue putting out these videos although I'm sure they are probably time-consuming and difficult to make. Ill wait (impatiently) for each new adventure into things I never knew or even thought of before. Thank you, thank you for many hours of joy.

loved the video and the music!

When I was a child only 8 years old was when my family and I camped out in the front yard with some delicious food and watched comet Hyakutake and all it's beautiful glory traverse the night sky. We lived in a very small town with hardly any light pollution there were only like 12 small businesses about a mile from our home that were all closed anyways. So basically only some street lamps were the source of any semblance of light pollution. All the stars were gorgeous in the sky and the spectacle of Hyakutake was amazing to witness. We sat out there for hours looking at it and talking while eating bbq. I'll never forget that amazing night. It was so lovely that I dreamed of seeing comets after that in some vivid dreams. I REALLY wish to experience something like that again! Thanks for a wonderful video yet again Astrum.

My dad had a picture he took from his backyard from mulitple decades ago from hayley’s comet. It was HUGE

Yes, I observed Hale-Bopp thru tripod mounted binoculars, although it was virtually impossible to miss it if you had even the slightest inclination to look up. That experience provided me with the impetus to build a large reflector telescope.

thank you x100000 i love your channel so much

My first comet was Hayakutake, and then Hale-Bopp. I was 13-14. The two comets were very different, one being very close and lasting just a day or so in the northern hemisphere, and the other being much farther and lasting for weeks or months. What an amazing year that was. I remember looking at Hayakutake, going into the house for a little while, and coming out and being surprised to see that its position had already change considerably. Also I remember being amazed at how long the tail stretched across the sky.

Like the chill step in the background

Could Lovejoy's survival be attributed to a sort of cosmic Leidenfrost effect? Maybe it can only shed so much mass at any given instant, due to sublimating gasses creating a little "air cushion". Also, do the periodic gas emissions nudge a comet one way or the other? Would this serve to increase stability or chaos in the comet's orbit?

Halle bopp in 1997, I was 15, for some reason it looked brighter if you looked slightly to the side of it, I'll never forget the 2 tails, one white, one blue, awesome 🤩

SUPER interesting; did not even know this was a thing. Thank you.

I saw comet Hale Bopp back in I think 1995. I was about 6 yrs old and I was just so mesmerized by it’s beauty, and the way it lit up the night sky. That’s what got me started off in my love of space

Thank you for using one of my favorite songs (Anima - You Are Truth). Fits the 'learning about the universe' motif perfectly.

As always, mind blown.

super kool thanks 4 sharing:)

thank - you .

The colors of Hale-Bopp in '97 were magnificent and awesome, a computer monitor doesn't even come close! I was working with the band that night, and had my fiancé with me too. Great memories.

i love your videos so much

going to binge here asap when my calendar allows

Amazing video

I will never forget the Hale Bopp comet with its two tales, I saw it in Guanacaste in a mountain no town lights blocking my view, amazing 🤩

yea, I remember going to the Columbia Gorge to watch the Perseids Meteor Showers with my aunt in high school in the early 1990's. I was going to college at Oregon State and I was back home for spring break and my sister and her boyfriend invited to go see a comet that was flying by at OMSI or the Oregon Museum Of Science and Industry. When we got there, there was people who had telescopes setup. It was put on by the Rose City Astronomers Club. Hale-Bopp was visible in Portland really clear with naked eye. It was amazing, and that night opened a whole new curiosity for me. I still think back to that night. I am happy that I got to experience it. Once in a lifetime experience. Peace out

I’m old enough to have gotten to see Halleys Comet. I did it with my mum (who was the biggest influence in me getting into science) she told me I’ll get to see it again (due to my age being young enough when it last came by). She also got me a book about it and told me not to open it till it comes around again; I think I know what’s in it already but I won’t open it till then. Wish I got to share the experience with her again with more insight and awareness then I had then (being a little little kid). Love you Mum.

I never actually seen these except in various videos. I would probably be so excited should I see one personally.

I got to see haley's comet in 1986. The best veiwing day was my 11th birthday and we went way out in the bush away from Darwin, NT, Australia to get away from any light pollution. It was during the dry season, so there were no cloud and it was pretty amazing. If I'm lucky I'll be able to see it again when I'm 86.

I remember being so stoked to see ISON in 2013. I was just a sophmore in highschool. Waited a year to see it up close only for it to be underwhelming. I was dissapointed

These meteors are fascinating! It’s hard to conceive how fast they going. Incredible!

Fascinating!

Your the best thankyou ❤️🌎👀

Yay! Lol I love how you use space engine music, the first track is called eternal moment if anyone is wondering

Don't often hear someone use "Alas" anymore. Great video

I recall standing on Franklin Ave in Minneapolis watching Hale-Bopp. It was a great event.

well done

Yeees, a new video from Alec/Alex. Thanks.

I vividly remember both Halley's Comet (in 1986) and Hale-Bopp (in 1997). Back in 1986 (when Halley's Comet passed) I remember thinking that although I was 15 years old back then, I probably won’t make it to see that incredible beauty when it passes again in 2061, that’s why I stayed for hours outside to observe it in the night sky. It’s once in life experience and there’s no way to not appreciate the opportunity. I love gazing at the night sky, but there’s no beauty that equals to the view of a massive and bright comet.

Wonderful video, saw footage i have never seen before those comets passing through the corona i swear that made my inner space nerd jump

I flew to southern Arizona in late winter in 1986 to view Halley's Comet. It was such a famous Comet in 1910 in the northern hemisphere but not so much in 1986. I followed it as it made its way across our view through that winter into spring. It was still one of the most amazing events in my life. As much as the total solar eclipse in western Nebraska in August of 2017.

Just Awesome

I remember Hale-Bopp - my bedroom window is north facing and I got to see it slowly move from west to east over the spring during my A-levels. I could even see the separate dust tails and gas tails.

I saw NEOWISE last year with the naked eye. Went to a dark park in rural Wisconsin -- absolutely gorgeous. So clear I could even take a photo of it with a cell phone camera!

The best one I got to see as a child was when haleys comet flow by it was astonishing to see especially at a young age and only furthered my interest in space and science

Halley’s comet, Hyakutake, Neowise, Hale-Bopp, Bennet, but my favorite was comet West. I took a photo of it with a simple camera and the colors in its tail and it’s length still impress me every time I look at it.