Nov 26, 2013 01:58 PM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Sky gazers on Earth may not get to see a dazzling light show courtesy of the Comet ISON, as it is not expected to survive its close encounter with the sun Thursday.

According to CNN, some scientists believe the comet is falling apart as it gets closer to the sun. It is not on course to collide with our giant star, but it is supposed to fly close enough to feel its gravitational pull.

When comets like ISON come close enough to Earth to view them, scientists like to take advantage to study the deep space rocks. At one point, many astronomers believed ISON would swing around the sun and use its gravitational pull to shoot like a slingshot near Earth, leaving a lighting spectacle in the sky with its dust trail. Those gravitational forces, however, may also tear the comet apart before it makes its way around the sun.

In 2007, astronomers were given a similar opportunity with Comet Encke, but it directly struck a coronal mass ejection (CME). ISON's encounter with the sun will be about 30 times closer than Eckne's, according to a NASA press release, making it more likely to hit a solar storm.

"I would absolutely love to see Comet ISON get hit by a big CME," Karl Battams, an astronomer at the Naval Research Lab who works with the Comet ISON Observing Campaign (CIOC), said in the release. "It won't hurt the comet, but it would give us a chance to study extreme interactions with the comet's tail."

NASA will not be able to predict what will happen next with the captivating comet, but will certainly be watching it very closely Thursday and possibly all the way through the holiday weekend.

"Any CME that hits Comet ISON close to the sun would very likely be faster, driving a shock wave with a much stronger magnetic field," said CIOC participant Angelos Vourlidas, of the Naval Research Lab. "Frankly, we can't predict what would happen."

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