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NASA's STEREO

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spacecraft is 

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designed to take

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images of the Sun,

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but here it’s being

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photobombed by

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comet

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PanSTARRS.

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These images

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were taken in

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March 2013

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by one of

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STEREO’s

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onboard

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instruments

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that watches for

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coronal mass

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ejections —

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powerful

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explosions of

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magnetized

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plasma from the

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Sun —

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as they travel

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toward Earth.

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In this image,

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we see bursts of

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light on the left

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representing solar

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material erupting

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off the Sun.

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On the right,

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Earth appears as

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a bright, unmoving

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orb.

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Then — boom!

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Straight through

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the middle

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comet

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PanSTARRS

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makes its

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appearance.

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From STEREO’s 

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point of view

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it looks like the

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comet narrowly

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escapes the

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explosion on the

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left, but because

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there's no change

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in the comet’s tail,

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we know the

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comet is farther

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away from the Sun

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 than it appears.

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So why is this

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photobomb

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truly out of this

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world?

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Because the

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PanSTARRS

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comet won’t be

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seen again for

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over 100,000

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years.