Can a heavy comet or asteroid hit the sun?

Most comets that brush past the sun end with a whimper, but if a big one plunges into the sun it could go out with a bang. read more

But it is 17 orders of magnitude less massive than the sun. Comet 67P hitting the sun is similar to something with a mass of around 60,000,000kg hitting the earth. This is about the mass of a nuclear submarine. That's big, but not that big. It's also like you getting hit by a single bacteria. read more

Comet Lovejoy re-emerging after its trip through the sun’s corona (Image: NASA/SDO) Most comets that brush past the sun end their lives in a whimper. But according to new calculations, a big enough comet that plunges into the sun should go out with a bang. read more

Comets, on the other hand, give off huge glowing plumes of gas when they get close to the Sun, making them very easy to spot. The SOHO satellite has detected more than 1100 comets known as "sun grazers." These are comets that get close enough to the Sun to glow very brightly and show up in the SOHO images. read more