Comet ISON's Fate Remains Unknown Following Rendezvous with the Sun [VIDEO]

Astronomers across the world held their breath Thursday as the Sun embraced Comet ISON, which many hoped would live up to its title of "comet of the century" in an explosive display of fireworks.

Far from bursting into the much anticipated light show, NASA scientists say the comet grew faint in the view of a number of their observatories, with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) unable to detect it at all. 

Whether or not the comet survived the experience that brought it within an estimated 730,000 miles within the Sun's surface is still unclear.

According to CNN, NASA astronomers essentially declared it dead as the Google Hangout dedicated to watching the event came to a close Thursday.

In a statement, agency officials said evidence suggests the comet broke up and evaporated before reaching perihelion, its closest point with the Sun.

"While the fate of the comet is not yet established, it is likely that it did not survive the trip," they wrote.

Still, others are not quite as sure.

Using data collected by NASA's STEREO satellite, the European Space Agency/NASA SOHO spacecraft and the SDO, amateur and professional astronomers alike are pointing to what they believe are remnants of vital signs.

"It now looks like some chunk of ISON's nucleus has indeed made it through the solar corona, and re-emerged," Karl Battams, a comet scientist for the Naval Research Laboratory, told reporters. "It's throwing off dust and (probably) gas, but we don't know how long it can sustain that."

Even if Comet ISON did not survive its rendezvous with the Sun, officials say the experience of following it since it was first discovered more than a year ago has been an informative one.

"While this means that Comet ISON will not be visible in the night sky in December, the wealth of observations gathered of the comet over the last year will provide great research opportunities for some time. One important question will simply be to figure out why it is no longer visible.