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Cruising through the inner Solar System, new Comet Kudo-Fujikawa reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, on 29 January. Passing within 28.4 million kilometres of the Sun, Kudo-Fujikawa came much closer than the planet Mercury, which basks only 57.9 million kilometres from our parent star.
Comet Kudo-Fujikawa became extremely bright as it approached the Sun, but it was impossible for earthbound observers to see against the solar glare. Still, the space-based SOHO observatory captured this view of the comet as it neared perihelion by using a coronagraph�s occulting disk to block the overwhelming sunlight. In the image, the size and location of the blocked-out Sun is indicated by a white circle, while an arrow points to the travelling comet's bright coma and developing tail. Though fading on its outbound journey, Kudo-Fujikawa should soon be visible to southern hemisphere comet-watchers in February's evening skies.
More info: More SOHO images of Kudo-Fujikawa
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