– This comet is literally the top of the iceberg. Many thousands of comets are too vague to be seen in the farthest parts of the solar system, explains David Jewitt at the University of California in a statement reproduced by, among others. CNN.
The comet “C / 2014 UN271” – which can also adorn itself with the somewhat easier-to-understand name Bernardinelli-Bernstein – caught the attention of Nasa astronomers for the first time in 2014.
HUBBLE: NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has determined the size of the largest ice-cold comet nucleus ever observed by astronomers. Photo: Zuma Press
sea view
From the dwarf planet to the comet
At the time, it was thought to be a so-called dvergplanet.
Only in 2021 could it be determined that it was a massive comet clump consisting of snow, gravel, ice and rock.
“Many thousands of comets are too indistinct to be seen in the farthest parts of the solar system,” says Jewitt, a professor of planetary science and astronomy.
Alarms about super-gonorrhea
Larger than Vestfold
At a speed of 35,000 kilometers per hour, the comet is currently moving through the outer limits of our solar system.
Bernardinelli-Bernstein weighs an estimated 500 trillion tonnes, which is 100,000 times the mass of comets in our solar system.
Nasa has now confirmed that the comet, with a diameter of 150 kilometers, is the largest ever discovered, thanks to their Hubble Telescope.
According to Nasa, it is larger than the American state of Rhode Island – or the Norwegian ex-county Vestfold.
– The wine became water
The comet was discovered as early as 2010, but it is only now that its size has been confirmed.
– We have always had a suspicion that this comet was large because it is so bright, despite the long distance, Professor Jewitt has stated.
– Now we can confirm that it is, he said BBC.
LARGEST IN COMET CLASS: This overview shows how C / 2014 UN271 towers over the previous record holder, C / 2002 VQ94. Illustration: Zuma Press
sea view
The researchers assume it originates from the Oort cloud. according to Large Norwegian encyclopedia it is a hypothetical cloud of comets, ice and cosmic dust that orbits the outer parts of the solar system.
Nasa describes comets as icy “Lego bricks”, which are remnants of earlier days of planet formation.
Horror finds in a warehouse building
Nine years away from the earth
In September 2021, Gary Bernstein – who discovered the comet with Pedro Bernadinelli seven years earlier – estimated that it would most likely pass Earth on January 21, 2031.
And there is no need to worry: it will in all probability pass 10.97 astronomical units away from Earth, slightly further than the distance between Earth and Saturn.
LONG JOURNEY: Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein has been heading for the sun for more than 1 million years. Illustration: Spaceengine
sea view
This means that people will not be able to see it with the naked eye.
– It is far away, and will not end up in the category of terrestrial objects, reassured Terje Wahl at the Norwegian Space Center to Dagbladet last fall.
Paid shock sum for dog cloning
Mapping the threats of the sky
Several of the world’s space organizations are constantly working to monitor potential threats to Earth. Wahl is one of two Norwegian delegates on the board of the Space Safety program, ESA’s program for dangers from space.
