Dazzling 'comet of the century' is still intact! Icy ball 15 times brighter than the moon might be visible in December IF it survives

Dazzling 'comet of the century' is still intact! Icy ball 15 times brighter than the moon might be visible in December - IF it survives There were fears that Comet ISON, which promised to be visible from Earth in broad daylight later this year, had fizzled out But an image from the Hubble Telescope has confirmed the nucleus of the comet is intact and the icy body is on course Astronomers are optimistic the comet will survive its transit 730,000 miles from the sun, as its nucleus is estimated to measure up to 1.2 miles across There were fears that an eagerly anticipated comet thought to be 15 times brighter than the moon had broken up, leaving skywatchers who had hoped to spot it from Earth disappointed. A colour composite image of Comet ISON confirms the eagerly-anticipated icy ball's nucleus is still intact. In July, experts had claimed that ISON was fizzling out and astronomer Ignacio Ferrin, of the University of Antioquia in Colombia, said: 'The future of comet ISON does not look bright, But Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has taken the image that will make sky watchers hopeful for a sighting of a lifetime, as ISON has been decribed as the 'comet of the century'. In July, the ISON was pictured on the opposite side of the Sun at around 378 million miles away from Earth, travelling at over 50,000 miles per hour While the image, taken on October 9, cannot pick out the comet's solid nucleus, astronomers said the telescope would most likely have discovered evidence of fragments if the comet had disintegrated.