Comet Ison's Survival In Balance As It Brushes Sun

Stargazers are waiting anxiously to see if an icy comet survives a close encounter with the Sun and fulfils its billing of being "one of the brightest of the century".

Comet Ison is to pass the star at a distance of just 727,000 miles, where it will meet temperatures of around 2,700C (4,892F), leading to predictions it will break apart before it can be seen blazing in the night sky.

It is expected to get closest to the Sun at 6.37pm UK time.

Scientists will be watching to see if the comet , which left the outer edge of the solar system more than 5.5 million years ago, disintegrates under the intense heat and gravitational forces of the Sun.

Comets are frozen balls of space dust left over from the formation of stars and planets billions of years ago.

When one comes close to a hot star, like the Sun, the icy core can melt.

"Many of us think it could break up into pieces, and some people think it won't survive at all," said comet expert Carey Lisse of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in the US.

Ison is seen in a five-minute exposure from Marshall Space Flight Center

But he accepted others thought it could survive the Sun's heat, although smaller in size.

"I think it has a maybe 30% chance to make it," Mr Lisse said.

If Ison does survive, astronomers say it should be easily visible in the Northern Hemisphere early next month, just before sunrise and after sunset.

Scientists say the comet comes from the very origin of the solar system, 4.5 billion years ago.

Mr Lisse said: "Comet Ison is a relic. It's a dinosaur bone of solar system formation."

If the comet has already broken up, it should disintegrate completely as it makes its slingshot around the Sun.

However, this would provide an opportunity for scientists to see the insides of the comet, and better understand its composition, including clues about what material was present during the solar system's formation.

The comet was discovered last year by two amateur astronomers using Russia's International Scientific Optical Network, or Ison.

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