Nevertheless, astronomers still believed that when a comet approached the Sun—where they could study it—the Sun's intense heat would remove the corrupted surface layer, exposing the interior.

尽管如此，天文学家们仍然相信，当一颗彗星接近太阳时——这是他们可以研究它的地方——太阳的高温将会移除损坏的表层，露出内部。

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As a comet gets closer to the sun, some gases in it begin to unfreeze.

当彗星接近太阳时，其中的一些气体开始解冻。

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As the comet nears the sun, its ice melts, releasing gas and dust that stream away into space.

当彗星靠近太阳时，它的冰层融化，释放的气体和尘埃飘向太空。

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Eichler thinks that such a sun-grazing comet may have triggered a large solar flare and cosmic ray-generating shockwaves as recently as 775 A.D.

FORBES: Sun-Grazing Comets As Triggers For Electromagnetic Armageddon

Or so says David Eichler, lead author of a forthcoming Astrophysical Journal Letters paper positing that a sun-grazing comet roughly the size of Hale-Bopp (with a nucleus some 30 kms in diameter), could trigger cosmic ray-generating shockwaves large enough to initiate a global electromagnetic Armageddon.

FORBES: Sun-Grazing Comets As Triggers For Electromagnetic Armageddon

Principal investigator Joe Veverka from Cornell University said the alterations were driven by the process material loss as the comet orbited the Sun.

BBC: Stardust probe finds 'subdued' comet crater