intact
太陽のパワーにより消滅した（broken up、disintegrated）かといわれ、多くの科学者、天文ファンの期待を打ち砕いたかにみえたISON。今日になってNASAはその核は無傷のまま残っているのではという推測を発表しました。またぞろ世界の目がこの彗星に向くかも知れません。
intactはここでも何度も取り上げましたが（ラテン in+tact「手で触れていない」）、手をふれられない（"not broken, damaged, or spoiled"--LDOCE）、つまり、「そこなわれていない，(そっくり)そのままで残っている」という意味になります。（UG）
Continuing a history of surprising behavior, material from Comet ISON appeared on the other side of the sun on the evening on Nov. 28, 2013, despite not having been seen in observations during its closest approach to the sun.
As ISON appeared to dim and fizzle in several observatories and later could not be seen at all by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory or by ground based solar observatories, many scientists believed it had disintegrated completely. However, a streak of bright material streaming away from the sun appeared in the European Space Agency and NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory later in the evening. The question remains whether it is merely debris from the comet, or if some portion of the comet's nucleus survived, but late-night analysis from scientists with NASA's Comet ISON Observing Campaign suggest that there is at least a small nucleus intact.
http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/comet-ison-may-have-survived/index.html#.UplNAqVTHcl
cf. remain intact
