ISON has deadly close encounter with sun

ISON --- we hardly knew you. The comet scientists hoped would light up the sky with its brilliant tail may have passed too close to the sun.

SOUNDBITE: Astrophysicist Karl Battams saying:

"It's some pretty awesome stuff. We haven't seen anything like this before. I do suspect that the comet has broken up and has died but ISON has surprised us a lot over the past few months so let's at least give it a couple more hours before we start writing the obituary."

The comet, which was moving faster than 217 miles per second as it approached the sun, is believed to have been vaporized.

What isn't clear at this point is whether the heat destroyed the entire comet.

The one thing scientist Do know about ISON is that it is no ordinary comet.

SOUNDBITE: Astrophysicist Karl Battams saying:

"ISON is just weird. It has behaved unpredictably at times with, when it's done something strange, we've spent some time scratching our heads, figuring out ok, what's i