A 'DISCONNECTION EVENT' IN COMET ZTF

[PinkDiamond]

Wow, check this out. There are sub-links so if their page has changed by the time you read this you'll need to search their articles for this one.

A 'DISCONNECTION EVENT' IN COMET ZTF:" Something unusual is happening to the tail of Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3). It's being disconnected. The break is inset in this picture taken by Austrian astrophotographer Michael Jaeger on Jan. 17th:



See the animation!

This is a disconnection event: A piece of Comet ZTF's tail has been pinched off and is being carried away by the solar wind.

Blame space weather. CMEs hitting comets can cause magnetic reconnection in comet tails, sometimes ripping them off entirely. NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft watched this happen to Comet Encke in April 2007: movie. This month, multiple CMEs have swept past Comet ZTF as a result of surging solar activity. One of them is responsible for the disconnection event.

Soon, we'll get a better look. Comet ZTF is approaching Earth for a close encounter (0.28 AU) on Feb. 1st. Between now and then, the comet's brightness will cross the threshold of naked-eye visibility, possibly peaking at magnitude +5. CME effects will be increasingly visible as the comet approaches. Stay tuned!

Video update: A new animation shows the disconnected fragment in motion.

Observing Tips: from Sky & Telescope"

https://spaceweather.com/

[SwordfishMining]

Thanks for sharing, even if its not great news, it's a great example. It must mean the Sun hates Emeralds, what? This is the green one I take it.
The example is the forces contained in CMEs that can change things in space, like asteroid orbits or the reliability of bipeds electrical grids in it. I watch the Sun forecast daily whether I could do a thing about the weather other than hide. Guess Ill go out and sweep off last nights snow after i post a video of the show.