sungrazer

English

Etymology

sun +‎ grazer

Noun

sungrazer (plural sungrazers)

1. (astronomy) A sungrazing comet
   • 1991, Gregory L. Matloff, The urban astronomer, page 187:

     At least one sungrazer has been observed by a spacecraft to actually be destroyed as it rammed the photosphere.

   • 1992, C. Mattok, Coronal streamers, coronal loops, and coronal and solar wind composition, page 127:

     But Comet Howard-Koomen-Michels (Solwind-1) is apparently the only sungrazer that produced a detectable effect on the appearance of the Sun's corona (Michels et.al., 1982; Sheeley et.al., 1982).

   • 1997, Fred Schaaf, Comet of the Century: From Halley to Hale-Bopp, page 73:

     And there is no telling when another great sungrazer might come. But speculation about the splitting of sungrazers brings us to consider the origins of the Kreutz group.