Comet Zijinshan nearly lost its tail due to a solar ejection

A recent ejection of solar mass as a result of a powerful X-class flare last night brought it to a record close distance from Comet Zijinshan. The comet was discovered recently, and now it has managed to avoid a collision with a large volume of solar plasma, according to the website of the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of the IKI and ISTP SB RAS.

Image source: xras.ru

Ejections of material generated by flares on the surface of the Sun sometimes collide with comets that approach the star or fly through the inner regions of the Solar System. For example, in April, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks was hit by plasma in the vicinity of Jupiter’s orbit. “The mass ejection from a class X solar flare, apparently, missed the large comet that was flying near the Sun at that moment by only a small amount. Judging by the orbit, we are talking about comet Zijinshan (number C/2023 A3), discovered by the Chinese observatory of the same name in January 2023,” the laboratory said in a statement.

Comet Zijinshan was not hit by a solar mass, as shown by the LASCO coronagraph on board the American SOHO spacecraft designed to observe the Sun. If this happened, the plasma would be unlikely to destroy the comet itself, but it could partially destroy part of its gas and dust tail, scientists say. This emission will reach the Earth’s vicinity in the second half of the week – it threatens geomagnetic disturbances and other manifestations of “cosmic weather”.