Comet headed for spectacular light show later this week

(WXIA) - Scientists say a comet the size of two football fields is sailing toward the sun, where it is expected to be destroyed in a spectacular light show later this week.

Comet Lovejoy was discovered on December 2 by Australian amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy, and is an unusually large member of a class of comets called "sungrazers." Sungrazers are fragments of larger comets that broke up in the past. Scientists say Comet Lovejoy was likely a fragment of the Great Comet of 1106 that broke up in the 12th Century.

NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite (SOHO) sees comet fragments plunging into the sun every few days, but Lovejoy is unusually large.

The comet, which is about 200 meters wide, is expected to become as bright as Jupiter or Venus when it flames out on December 15 or 16. The comet will move to within 140,000 km from the surface of the sun, which will reflect a great bit of light that SOHO will be able to capture.

Stargazers will be able to watch the event unfold on NASA's SOHO website over the next few days.

There is an outside chance that it may survive its encounter with the sun, which would cause it to become bright enough to be seen during the daylight hours. Scientists emphasize that Lovejoy's survival of this encounter is not likely, however.