“How is it possible for Lovejoy to accelerate to such great speed through it’s passage around the sun and not be ripped apart by”

It accelerates because it’s in free fall, attracted by the suns gravity. In free fall, no acceleration forces are felt. The only thing that could “pull apart” the comet would be tidal forces, ie, the difference between the force of gravity on the part closest to the sun vs the force felt further away. I doubt there would be more than a few hundred lbs/force differential. Our sun is big but the gravity gradient isn’t all that much,,,

The only thing the comet would experience is the intense solar radiation, trying to boil off material from the comet surface(mostly water ices). Most comets would evaporate but this comet appears to be made of sterner stuff(rock, metals, etc)

Gary 7

The Ramans do EVERYTHING in threes!

@20. Anchor :

“But doesn’t that PROVE that the Sun isn’t really a SOLID object after all?!?”

Well, technically plasma (which our Sun is) isn’t a solid but the a separate phase state (liquid, gas, solid) again so that’s kinda technically correct. Albeit via a misunderstanding of events.

But yeah, I see what you’re getting at there and mostly agree.

Although :

Remember the Good Olde Days, when Bad Astronomy had more posts about bad astronomy – that is, more hard-hitting posts about debunking and correcting or otherwise bringing a healthy skepticism to the ever-present glut of popular but wrong myths and misconceptions – than, say, fluffy, meaningless and inconsequential references to pariedolia?

Are you seriously trying to tell the BA what should be blogging about on his own blog? You know better than to do that don’t you? Are you really complaining about this clip and write-up being posted on the Bad Astronomy blog? Sheesh indeed.

“Comet Lovejoy Plunges into the Sun … and Survives”

The following teaser in the first sentence provides more zing:

“Sungrazing Comet Lovejoy has shocked astronomers by surviving its “death plunge” into the sun.”

SpaceDotCom, no stranger to selecting the baton of hype over the lever of correction, in their zeal to outdo the competition, of course, amps the volume up to a screaming 11:

“Comet Lovejoy Survives Fiery Plunge Through Sun, NASA Says”

Ah yes. “INTO the Sun” > becomes > “THROUGH the Sun”. Inevitably the foul emmanation from the graveyard of the credulous and crackpot alike – people encouraged to think that a comet has speared right THROUGH the Sun’s INTERIOR – are erupting like so many zombies.

Rampant stupidity is once more on the swell, gurgling out of the dank ground, and its getting pretty deep again. Be very, very afraid…

I’ve already encountered the first waves. People under the impression that a “comet” (of which, incidently, they have no idea what it is, or how large it is) passed directly through the interior of the Sun, and so they deduce (with what frail reasoning they may apply to whatever diffuse misinformation at their disposal) – as one exclaimed on the phone this morning: “But doesn’t that PROVE that the Sun isn’t really a SOLID object after all?!?”

sheesh.

It has often perplexed me why the folks who write and run the NASA public education service sites (like SpaceWeather) get so exasperated with these hideous eruptions of popular misconception when they so often contribute to triggering them.* This particular eruption will be amusing to watch as it develops.

(*What do they expect? “Public Outreach” run amok on the model of Madison Avenue and Hollywood, rather than the rules of what we used to call journalistic responsibility and scientific integrity. What was wrong with those the latter again? Oh, yeah, I remember now. Somewhere along the line somebody pipped up the idiotic conclusion, “But science is so BORING!” – and it caught on with many because they figured it must be correct, and so they sought methods to bring pizzazz to science as a means of attracting interest, and found it in the advertising and film industries and consulted the associated consulting firms for advice. Lo and behold, they discovered that the approach can also be surprisingly lucrative, and so it MUST be the right way to go, otherwise it wouldn’t be so successful and effective. They may not realize it, but NASA eggs the pop media on. But science journalists really don’t have an excuse. Too many of THEM have come to regard hype an acceptable baton to grab and are apt to wave it about with pride. Don’t they notice that ‘baton’ is shaped like a crutch?).

#Sigh# Remember the Good Olde Days, when Bad Astronomy had more posts about bad astronomy – that is, more hard-hitting posts about debunking and correcting or otherwise bringing a healthy skepticism to the ever-present glut of popular but wrong myths and misconceptions – than, say, fluffy, meaningless and inconsequential references to pariedolia?

You’re not thinking fourth-dimensionally!

It came out the other side because its return trip, plotted to return it to the exact time from which it originally left, did in fact work.

Why is there an apparent distortion of the comets path as it emerges from the far side of the sun. Is it something to do with the reflected light from the comets tail interacting with the chromosphere/intense magnetic fields near the sun’s surface?

How is it possible for Lovejoy to accelerate to such great speed through it’s passage around the sun and not be ripped apart by – I don’t know the terminology for the forces that it must be under? centrifugal?.. I thought they were mostly dirty ice balls, sort of.

The Onion is satirical and not to be taken seriously. Oh wait, that’s real? If you thought that was crazy check this out
http://www.luciferianliberationfront.org/borg.html

Facepalm…

http://raptureintheairnow.com/news-you-can-use/comet-lovejoy-survives-the-sun-because-of-the-cross#.TuuVKyNAb20

Very nice picture and video