Devil’s Comet: Massive City-Sized Space Rock Explodes Dozens of Times in 2023, Scientists Reveal Pattern

Friday 29/December/2023 – 06:30 PM

A comet the size of a city heading towards Earth has exploded dozens of times this year, prompting scientists to reveal the pattern of explosions, according to the British Daily Mail.

Devil’s comet

The comet is called the Devil’s Comet, because it grows horns during volcanic eruptions, and the space rock appears to violently eject ice and gas every 15 days. The last event occurred on December 14, while the next explosion will occur on December 29 or 30.

Astronomers found that the cosmic body, formally known as Comet 12P, rotates over a two-week period, positioning its icy volcano vent toward the Sun and producing intense heat. Known as a cold volcanic comet, it exhibits volcanic activity.

But instead of spewing molten rock and lava-like volcanoes onto Earth, an icy volcanic comet spews a mixture of gases and ice, building pressure until nitrogen and carbon monoxide explode, spewing icy debris through large cracks in the core’s atmosphere.

The gaseous streams can form distinctive shapes when viewed through a telescope, such as devil’s horns, also described as a horseshoe or the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars.

The space rock is the size of the famous Halley’s Comet, and was last seen with the naked eye on Earth in 1954.

It is also known as a Halley-type comet, because its 71-year orbit around the Sun puts it in the same category as history’s most famous space rock, which takes about 75 years to orbit our star, as opposed to thousands of years.