While America prepares for their Fourth of July firework display, the universe is putting on a show of its own. NASA compiled a time-lapse video of a brilliant comet streaking towards the sun.
The comet (named ISON) resembles a skyrocket, according to NASA. It is flying through outer space at 48,000 mph. with some real holiday spirit.
The images take place over about 43 minutes, but the event is condensed into a video lasting only five seconds. During the video the comet actually travels about 34,000 miles, about seven percent of the distance between Earth and the moon.
The images in the NASA time lapse were taken in early May when ISON was about 403 million miles from Earth between Mars and Jupiter.
The comet will warm as it reaches the sun which will speed up the process called sublimation. The phenomenon is "a process similar to evaporation in which solid matter transitions directly into gas."
As ISON reaches the sun its tail will get increasingly longer and the comet itself will get more brilliant.
ISON is expected to be visible to the naked eye by November of this year, experts say it could be as bright as a full moon, and visible during the day, according to Space.com.
Experts believe when the comet gets closer, it will put on a brilliant show.
"During the period when Comet ISON is closest to the sun, it will actually pass in front of the sun as seen from behind [one of the satellites]," NASA said, according to Space.com. "This opens up the exciting possibility that we might see extreme-ultraviolet emission from the comet, as was seen recently with the bright sungrazing Comet Lovejoy."
There are no guarantees on the way any comet will behave, they're notoriously unpredictable.
"Comets are like cats; they have tails, and they do precisely what they want," David Levy, who has worked on other comet-spotting projects, said.
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