SOHO's images of Comet McNaught's closest approach ot the sun (perihelion)

Here is video from the SOHO spacecraft that shows Comet McNaught's approach within half the distance between the sun and Mercury. The sun is in the center of the image, but blocked so that the optics on SOHO can see the light of objects near the sun. Mercury is also visible in the image and you can see the comet is very spectacular in comparison. It was so bright it almost overwhelmed SOHO's optics. The lower left of the image shows the time lapse between January 11 to the 16 or so....