A gigantic comet three times the size of Mount Everest has blasted into space and now it is hurtling towards the Earth, The Science Times reported on Wednesday.
The blast
The blast was first observed on October 5 and was reported by the British Astronomical Association (BRA). This was the second blast after the first one observed in July.
Comets are large objects made of dust and ice that orbit the Sun. Best known for their long and streaming tails, these objects are leftovers from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
The comet that is hurtling towards Earth was first picked up by astronomers earlier this month after they noticed a massive outburst from a space rock.
This caught astronomers’ attention after the comet’s brightness went up by a dozen times because of the added light reflecting from its stretched coma, which is the atmosphere around the comet’s nucleus that freely escapes and forms when the rock nears the Sun and its ice sublimates, the report said.
In the following days, the coma of the comet further expanded and developed odd horns.
Its likely impacts on Earth
The comet is currently hurtling towards the Earth and the inner solar system, the report said, adding that it will be slingshotted around our Sun.
The comet, which has been identified as 12P/Pons-Brooks, is not expected to have a direct impact on Earth.
However, it may be observable by the naked eye when it will be closest to Earth on April 21, 2024, according to The Science Times.
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This comet will not come back until 2095.NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory has classified 12P/Pons-Brooks as a ‘near-Earth asteroid’ due to its orbit’s proximity to Earth, but it is not considered potentially hazardous “because computer simulations have not indicated any imminent likelihood of future collision”.
The comet orbits the Sun every 26,000 days (71.18 years), coming as close as 0.78 AU (1 AU is equal to about 150 million kilometers) and reaching as far as 33.58 AU from the Sun. Its orbit is highly elliptical.
