Hold the obituary . Experts now think Comet ISON -- or at least part of it -- survived its close encounter with the sun . Karl Battams , a comet scientist for the Naval Research Laboratory , said it is believed some parts of ISON 's nucleus survived perihelion . `` It now looks like some chunk of ISON 's nucleus has indeed made it through the solar corona , and re-emerged , '' he said . `` It 's throwing off dust and ( probably ) gas , but we do n't know how long it can sustain that . '' However , he said , its fate is uncertain . `` Now it has emerged and started to brighten , we need to observe it for a few days to get a feel for its behavior , '' Battams said . ISON swept about 730,000 miles over the sun 's surface Thursday about 2 p.m . ET . 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 . Comets are giant snowballs of frozen gases , rock and dust that can be several miles in diameter . When they get near the sun , they warm up and spew some of the gas and dirt , creating tails that can stretch for thousands of miles . Most comets are in the outer part of our solar system . When they get close enough for us to see , scientists study them for clues about how our solar system formed . Astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok discovered ISON last year using a telescope near Kislovodsk , Russia . ISON -- officially named C/2012 S1 -- was 585 million miles away at the time . Its amazing journey through the solar system had been chronicled by amateur astronomers and by space telescopes . `` From the beginning , ISON has confused , surprised and amazed us , and in hindsight its latest little escapade really should not shock us , '' Battams said . `` Nonetheless , 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 at the end of a Google Hangout to watch the comet swing by the sun . But professional and amateur astronomers were undeterred by the reports and kept analyzing NASA satellites . They found images that clearly show something emerging from the sun . `` What we see here is the dust tail emerging first , pointing away from the sun , '' said Padma Yanamandra-Fisher with the Space Science Institute and a member of the ISON Observing Campaign . A video made by observing campaign member John Maclean shows the comet slicing toward the sun and then something -- apparently ISON -- emerging from the other side . Maclean is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society at Norman Lockyer Observatory Sidmouth in Devon , England . The discovery stunned many in the comet-watching community and led some to nickname ISON the zombie comet . Others repeated an old joke about comets and cats . `` Comets are like cats ; they have tails , and they do precisely what they want , '' David H. Levy said . This comet also seems to have something else in common with cats -- nine lives . 5 things to know about Comet ISON . 2013 : The year of the comet ( we hope )
Comet ISON -- or at least part of it -- may have survived , experts say . Comment: The fate of the comet remains uncertain . It was making its closest approach to sun .