NASA’s Illuminate: Sun Rips Comet’s Tail in Half

In October 2025, as comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) passed near the Sun, an eruption called a coronal mass ejection burst from our star. Soon after, NASA’s PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission watched as part of the comet’s tail wavered and ripped apart — not once but twice. Imaging comet Lemmon every 4 to 8 minutes over three months, PUNCH created one of the longest and most detailed records yet of a comet interacting with the Sun. NASA’s Illuminate: Out-of-this-world images shining light on our Sun and solar system. Music credit: "Hyperconscious” by Timothy William Oliver [PRS] from Universal Production Music Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Producer/Editor/Narrator: Lacey Young (eMITS) Writer: Vanessa Thomas (eMITS), Miles Hatfield (eMITS) Support: Swarupa Nune (eMITS) Sound Effects: Pixabay This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14954. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14954. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/ If you liked this video, subscribe to the NASA Goddard YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/NASAGoddard Follow NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center · Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/nasagoddard · X: http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard · Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAGoddard · Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc