Comet ISON appeared to disintegrate yesterday as it made its slingshot turn around the sun, but it looks like something survived. Comet ISON disappeared from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) as it made a close pass of the sun. Leading scientists suspect Comet ISON disintegrated.

Dean Pesnell, project scientist for SDO, said "We didn't see Comet ISON in SDO. So we think it must have broken up and evaporated before it reached perihelion."

But another image was picked up by NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and the European Space Agency. The comet of the century may have survived. On a camera called LASCO C3, observers picked up a blip of something coming around the sun.

in an evening blog post, comet expert Karl Battams of the U.S. Navy Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., wrote "Now, in the latest LASCO C3 images, we are seeing something beginning to gradually brighten up again. One could almost be forgiven for thinking that there's a comet in the images!"

On Thanksgiving Day, Comet ISON came within 684,000 miles of the solar surface. The comet of the century was subjected to extreme gravitational forces and solar wind during the encounter.

Comet ISON was discovered by Russian amateur astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonokin in September 2012. 

NASA scientists said Comet ISON was less than a mile wide as it headed toward the sun. The comet was composed of 2 billion tons of ice and dust. Now, the comet, or comet fragment, appears to be remains of what it was, according to the images picked up from SOHO and NASA's twin STEREO sun observatories.

In an email, Karl Battams told SPACE.com "We have no way to estimate nucleus size from SOHO or STEREO and it's just way too early to speculate on ISON's future. It is only a few hours old if we consider its survival as a 'rebirthing.'"

Astronomers and skywatchers had high hopes for Comet ISON. Its discovery 14 months ago gave scientists an unprecedented lead time to track the comet. Because of its close approach to the sun, the comet had the potential to become a brilliant object in the night sky, leading some scientists to dub ISON a potential "comet of the century."

NASA scientist Michelle Thaller of the Goddard Space Flight Center said before the solar passage. Said "As December goes on, it will get farther way from the sun, and it will be up in the night sky. By the time you get to mid to late December, if you look up to about the Big Dipper, it should be right there if it survives the sun."

Scientists will monitor the remnants of Comet ISON  for the next few days to see how much of the comet, if any, has survived.

Solar astrophysicist C. Alex Young told SPACE.com "I think the next couple of days will be interesting and hopefully that will be enough time to figure out what is really going on. On its journey here, ISON has been an odd comet for many of the comet experts and it continues to not disappoint."