Survivor Comet Lovejoy Seen from the ISS

Comet Lovejoy, the space rock that somehow survived an encounter with the Sun and escaped with only minimal injuries, was recently imaged from aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Such occurrences are extremely rare.

Expedition 29 Commander and NASA astronaut Dan Burbank was the one who managed to pick up his camera with sufficient haste to capture the fleeting comet. Lovejoy is cataloged as a sungrazer, which means that its orbit takes it extremely close to the Sun.

In fact, earlier this month, it passed within only 140,000 kilometers (86,992 miles) of the Sun, and astronomers expected it to be the end of this comet. However, the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) saw the object moving past the star on December 16.

Burbank said in an interview yesterday that seeing Lovejoy from the ISS was one of the best experiences he ever had in orbit, Space reports.