All eyes on me ☄️⁣ ⁣ When NASAHubble captured this image of Comet ISON on April 30, 2013, the comet was closer to the Sun than Jupiter's orbit. First spotted 585 million miles away in September 2012, the comet became the subject of a massive global observation campaign incorporating space-based and ground-based telescopes and participation from citizen scientists and professional and amateur astronomers. Why was ISON so special?⁣ ⁣ As a comet travels through the solar system, it faces many perils. Before it reaches Mars, the Sun’s radiation begins to boil its water. A giant ejection of solar material from the Sun could rip its tail off. And, if it survives all this, the intense radiation and pressure as it flies near the surface of the sun could destroy it altogether. Comet ISON was making its first trip around the Sun, which meant it was still made of pristine matter from the earliest days of the solar system’s formation. ISON was, like all comets, a dirty snowball made up of dust a...