[LibWhacker]

I've been wondering about that, too. The eruption happened all over the Sun's surface simultaneously at the very moment the comet reached the western limb. But the Sun is 800,000 miles across, and it would take a ray of light about four seconds to travel that distance, more for any other kind of disturbance that propagated from the point of impact across the surface or through the interior of the Sun. So it must have been a coincidence. But that seems soooooooo unlikely! I hope someone can explain it because I surely cannot.

[LibWhacker]

Just occurred to me... Those Sun vids are generally greatly sped up. So anything that looked simultaneous may not have been. Still, I’m amazed that a comet that was only 40, 50 or 60 meters across could cause big old Mr. Sun to react so violently when hit by such a little thing, especially since it was surely vaporized (or exploded, a la Tunguska?) before it got more than a tiny distance into the Sun’s upper atmospheric layers.

[Steve Van Doorn]