A "zombie" comet that survived a close encounter with the Sun has won worldwide fame for an Exeter astronomer.
John Maclean, an astronomer at the Norman Lockyer Observatory, Sidmouth, has been given credit for spotting the fact that Comet ISON had survived a close encounter with the Sun .
His videos and images of the comet have been reported by CNN on both the web and TV.
They showed the comet slicing toward the sun and then something -- apparently ISON -- emerging from the other side.
Mr Maclean is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society at the Norman Lockyer Observatory
He said afterwards: "The discovery stunned many in the comet-watching community and led some to nickname ISON the zombie comet."
Karl Battams, a comet scientist for the Naval Research Laboratory, said: "It now looks like some chunk of ISON's nucleus has indeed made it through the solar corona, and re-emerged. It's throwing off dust and (probably) gas, but we don't know how long it can sustain that.
"Now it has emerged and started to brighten, we need to observe it for a few days to get a feel for its behaviour."
ISON swept about 730,000 miles over the sun's surface on Thursday.
A fleet of spacecraft watched ISON plunge toward the sun, including NASA's STEREO satellite, the European Space Agency/NASA SOHO spacecraft and the Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Mr Battams said: "This has been one of the most extraordinary comets we have ever encountered, and just goes to reiterate how beautiful, dynamic and exciting our universe is."
Observers have been watching the comet for more than a year, hoping it would survive its sunbath and emerge to put on a sky show, visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere.
Earlier Thursday, NASA scientists had pretty much declared ISON dead but professional and amateur astronomers were undeterred by the reports and kept analysing NASA satellites. They found images that clearly show something emerging from the sun.Video:
