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The ‘DEVIL’ comet, three times bigger than Mt. Everest, is heading toward Earth.
Space scientists have warned that a horned comet, nearly three times the size of Mount Everest, has exploded and is apparently hurtling towards Earth. As per the reports, the comet exploded for the second time in four months and is now dashing towards Earth.
The comet, officially known as Twelve P, or Ponds Brooks, got its nickname due to the formation of two horns made up of ice and gas.
According to reports, it is a cryovolcanic, or cold volcano, comet. Scientific reports reveal that it measures 30 km in diameter, and it erupted on October 5. Comets are large objects made of dust and ice that orbit the sun, best known for their long, streaming tails.
These ancient objects are leftovers from the formation of the solar system billions of years ago. The tails appear on a comet due to the rapid burning of gases as they come close to the sun, but 12 P has been unusually bright compared to others.
This happened because of two major eruptions on the comet, one in July and the other earlier this month. During the July outburst, as the comet spewed debris, it appeared brighter and seemed to take the shape of the Millennium Falcon spacecraft from Star Wars.
The British Astronomical Association, which has been closely monitoring twelve P, detected the explosion after noticing that it appeared dozens of times brighter due to the light reflected by its coma, which is the cloud gas surrounding its center.
The comet has also been described as hall-like, a term that was coined a few decades ago to describe comets in long elliptical orbits around the sun, where it takes the comet between 22 and 100 years to go around. The unusual shape of the comet’s coma is likely attributed to an irregularity in the nucleus’s shape.
As explained by Richard Miles, a British astronomer, it appears that the outflowing gas is partially obstructed by a protrusion on the nucleus, and as the gas moves away from the comet, the irregularity in the coma’s shape becomes more pronounced and noticeable.
Currently, twelve P is speeding toward the inner solar system, where it will slingshot around the sun on its highly elliptical orbit spanning 71 years, akin to the trajectory of the green comet Nishimura, which executed a nearly identical maneuver on September 17, 1712. Twelve P will reach its nearest point to Earth on April 21, 2024, possibly becoming visible to the naked eye before being propelled back towards the outer solar system.
It will not return until 2095. As 12 P continues its journey toward the sun, there is a substantial likelihood of witnessing additional major eruptions. These future eruptions could potentially surpass the recent one in scale. As the comet absorbs more solar radiation. The comet will pass closest to the sun around April 21, then pass closest to Earth around June 2. He said. It may be visible when it is closer to the sun. Comet Twelve P is not considered a threat to Earth. It is a periodic comet with a well-determined orbit, and its path does not intersect with Earth’s orbit in a way that would lead to a collision.
2024 is another important year for space exploration.
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