WATCH: Comet PanSTARRS reveals a glowing double tail near the Sun
Comet PanSTARRS just pulled off a cosmic plot twist. Although it was not visible to all of us in naked eye, it was caught in all its glory by SOHO’s LASCO's watchful eye. In this clip, the comet is seen slipping between Earth and the Sun. It first starts as a glowing streak. But with time, it suddenly levels up near the end and flaunts its second tail.
The thicker and glowing trail that you can spot is its dust tail. It's stubborn and steady in nature. And the other tail with the sharper and sleeker streak is the ion tail, which is light, electric, and pushed by the Sun’s wild solar wind.
Video Credits: Courtesy of SOHO/LASCO consortium. SOHO is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.