'The most amazing thing I've ever seen in space': Incredible pictures of Comet Lovejoy taken by Space Station commander



Last week Lovejoy came within 87,000 miles of the Sun's 5700C surface





Comet Lovejoy, which recently survived a ‘graze’ with the Sun, has been captured on camera in spectacular fashion by the commander of the International Space Station.

Dan Burbank saw the comet from a magnificent vantage point – 240 miles above the Earth’s horizon.

He described seeing the comet as ‘the most amazing thing I have ever seen in space’ in an interview with WDIV-TV in Detroit.

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Heavens above: Comet Lovejoy is visible near Earth's horizon in this nighttime image photographed by Dan Burbank

Star-struck: Burbank described the view as the most amazing thing he'd ever seen in space



Comet Lovejoy last week astonished star gazers by surviving a hellishly hot encounter with the Sun.

The 660-foot-wide icy rock disappeared around the back side of the Sun, coming within 87,000 miles of its surface, and emerged triumphantly out the other side.

This was the comet that lived.

Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the great escape on camera.

After the dramatic event it tweeted: ‘Breaking News! Lovejoy lives! The comet Lovejoy has survived its journey around the sun to reemerge on the other side.’

Lovejoy was only discovered on November 27 this year and was named after the amateur Australian astronomer who spotted it, Terry Lovejoy.

Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured Comet Lovejoy diving past the sun just 87,000 miles from the surface - and surviving the 'graze'

Heat is on: Lovejoy emerges from the clutches of the Sun and was spotted escaping by Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory

It is classed as a ‘Kreutz sungrazer’, which is a class of comet whose orbit comes very close to the Sun.

They are named after the 19th-century German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who figured out that they are actually the remains of one huge comet that broke apart.

Soon after Lovejoy was found three separate space agencies excitedly began tracking its trajectory – Nasa, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Its fate was quickly marked as doomed because it would rush headlong into the Sun’s hellish corona.

Writing on the Sungrazing Comets website, Naval Research Laboratory scientist Karl Battams said: ‘We have here an exceptionally rare opportunity to observe the complete vaporization of a relatively large comet, and we have approximately 18 instruments on five different satellites that are trying to do just that.’

Team effort: This map illustrates how countries from all over the world contribute to the running of the International Space Station

However, Lovejoy had other ideas and in a brief, but very clear, clip can be seen zooming away to safety from the Sun’s fiery clutches.

Robert Massey, from the Royal Astronomical Society, was stunned by Lovejoy's close encounter.

He told MailOnline: ‘It was an extraordinary event. Lovejoy was incredibly close to the Sun, closer to the Sun than the Earth is to the Moon.

‘And it’s certainly a pretty rare event. The Solar Heliospheric Observatory [Note: the video is from the Solar Dynamics Observatory] has seen many examples of comets being destroyed as they approached the Sun and there was a great deal of interest in this because there was an expectation of spectacular debris.

‘I suppose if something is big and tough enough it will survive. This event tells us that the comet was rather more robust than expected. Doubtless it had a very rough ride though!’

Mr Massey explained that comets have probably survived skirmishes with the Sun before, but we just haven’t been able to see them.