A highly anticipated "sungrazer" comet is no more. Many experts expected the comet to shine so brightly that it could be seen in the daytime sky. Instead, the unfortunate object was ripped apart by a superclose "death dive" with our home star, which briefly transformed it into a "headless wonder" — a comet with no body, just a ghostly tail — stunning footage reveals.
The comet, dubbed C/2026 A1 (MAPS), was a member of the Kreutz sungrazers — a group of comets, likely leftover fragments from a massive exploded comet, that pass extremely close around the sun. Scientists discovered the comet in January and initially believed it was around 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) wide, but subsequent photos captured by the James Webb Space Telescope revealed that it was only around 0.25 miles (0.4 km) across.
