Watch a family of comets that pass within about 1-2 solar radii of the Sun's surface - closer than almost anything else in the solar system survives. Pick a real historical member or a typical unnamed fragment, sweep it through perihelion, and see why most of them never come back out.
Kreutz Sungrazing Comets 3D Explorer
Pick a real Kreutz family comet, sweep it in from far out to a perihelion within about 1-2 solar radii of the Sun's surface, and watch why almost none of them make it back out - unlike the three historical survivors in the preset list.
Named for German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who showed in 1888 that several bright sungrazing comets share nearly identical orbits and must be fragments of one shattered ancestor, this family is the closest anything routinely gets to the Sun and survives to be photographed doing it.
- Typical family member preset: an unnamed fragment like the thousands SOHO has found, vaporizing into dust at or before perihelion
- Great Comet of 1843 preset: discovered 1843-02-05, a great comet within days, traced to a parent breakup around February 1106
- Great Comet of 1882 preset: visible beside the Sun in broad daylight at perihelion, about 100 times the full Moon's brightness at peak, and visibly fragmenting - the direct evidence behind Kreutz's 1888 theory
- Ikeya-Seki (1965) preset: perihelion 0.0078 AU (about 291,000 miles above the surface), magnitude -7, visible in daylight, tail reaching about 70 million miles
- Faint sibling orbit lines around the bright path show the family fan - members grouped tightly on nearly the same orbit
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload; your last preset is remembered on your device
| Comet | Perihelion distance | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Typical unnamed fragment | about 1-2 solar radii | Vaporizes into dust at or before perihelion |
| Great Comet of 1843 (C/1843 D1) | about 0.0055 AU (about 1.2 solar radii) | Survived, remained a bright naked-eye comet |
| Great Comet of 1882 (C/1882 R1) | visible beside the Sun in daylight | Survived but visibly fragmented near the Sun |
| Ikeya-Seki (C/1965 S1) | 0.0078 AU (about 291,000 miles up) | Survived, magnitude -7, visible in daylight for weeks |
Why most of them never come back
The Sun's radius is about 0.00465 AU, and a typical Kreutz perihelion distance is only about 0.005 AU - the fragment is passing within a hair's width, in solar terms, of the visible surface. Before the SOHO spacecraft launched in December 1995, only about 30 Kreutz members were known; its LASCO coronagraphs have since found comets at a rate of 200-plus a year, roughly one every two days, and by October 2022 SOHO had found over 4,500 comets total, with about 85 percent of them Kreutz fragments. The overwhelming majority of those never survive the passage - they are seen approaching, then gone.
All of these fragments trace back to one ancestral nucleus, estimated over 100 km across, that broke apart in a close solar passage more than 2,000 years ago. Several of the pieces have themselves broken apart further in later close passages - which is why the family's orbits stay tightly grouped, but are not perfectly identical, and is also why Comet du Toit (1945) and Comet Ikeya-Seki (1965) are believed to be siblings from the same, more recent breakup that produced the Great Comet of 1882.
For a normal periodic comet's orbit and tail on a moderate ellipse far from this kind of extreme, see the Comet Orbit 3D Explorer (perihelion about 0.586 AU - nowhere near the Sun), or for how ion and dust tails form at any distance, see the Comet Tail Types 3D Explorer. This page is the one visualizing the specific, real population that nearly touches the Sun and mostly does not survive it.
Everything renders on your device with WebGL. The 3D engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is cached, and nothing about your visit is sent to a server.
This is an educational approximation, not a numerical N-body integrator or an ephemeris: the shared orbit shape is compressed for one-screen readability (the real orbit is far more elongated), and the family fan of sibling orbit lines is an illustrative spread, not measured elements for specific catalogued objects. The three named historical comets' perihelion distances and brightness figures are the real published values.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Kreutz sungrazing comet?
It is a comet belonging to a family of fragments, all descended from one large ancestral nucleus that broke apart in a close solar passage over 2,000 years ago. Family members share a nearly identical, extreme orbit that passes within about 1-2 solar radii of the Sun's surface at perihelion.
Why doesn't a typical Kreutz comet survive perihelion?
The Sun's radius is about 0.00465 AU, and a typical Kreutz perihelion distance is only about 0.005 AU - so the fragment passes through intense heating almost at the visible surface. Most fragments vaporize into dust at or before that closest approach; surviving it is the exception.
How many Kreutz comets has SOHO found?
Before SOHO launched in December 1995, only about 30 Kreutz members were known. SOHO's LASCO coronagraphs have since found comets at a rate of 200-plus per year, roughly one every two days, and by October 2022 SOHO had found over 4,500 comets total, with about 85 percent of them Kreutz fragments.
Was the Great Comet of 1882 really visible next to the Sun in daylight?
Yes. It became bright in September 1882 and was visible right beside the Sun in the daytime sky at perihelion, reportedly about 100 times the brightness of the full Moon at its peak. It also visibly split into fragments near the Sun, which is the direct evidence Heinrich Kreutz used in 1888 to argue that these comets share one shattered ancestor.
How close did Comet Ikeya-Seki pass to the Sun?
About 0.0078 AU, roughly 291,000 miles (468,000 km) above the Sun's surface, on 1965-10-21. It reached at least magnitude -7 (about eight times brighter than Venus) and, at peak, about ten times the brightness of the full Moon - visible in daylight by blocking the Sun with a hand or a building.
Are the Great Comet of 1882, Comet du Toit, and Comet Ikeya-Seki related?
They are believed to be siblings. The Great Comet of 1882 visibly fragmented near the Sun, and Comet du Toit (1945) and Comet Ikeya-Seki (1965) are thought to be pieces from that same, more recent breakup - all still part of the wider Kreutz family descended from the original ancestral nucleus.
Is the "family fan" of orbit lines real measured data?
No, it is illustrative. Real Kreutz family members do stay tightly grouped on nearly the same orbit, but the fan of faint sibling lines in this scene is a teaching illustration of that grouping, not measured orbital elements for specific catalogued objects.
Is this a real orbital-mechanics simulation?
No. It is an educational approximation, not a numerical N-body integrator or an ephemeris. The orbit shape is compressed for one-screen readability, and the family fan is illustrative - but the three named historical comets' perihelion distances and brightness figures are the real published values.