Ilustrasi komet. (Pixabay/ A Owen)
Hitekno.com – In order to astronomer have found a comet giant which is claimed to be the largest in the discovery in modern times.
Referred to as the largest in modern times, giant comet it is about 1,000 times larger than an ordinary comet.
The object is called Comet C/2014 UN271 or Bernardinelli-Bernstein, after its discoverer.
Namely, two University of Pennsylvania graduate students Pedro Bernardinelli and astronomer Gary Bernstein discovered this giant comet.
Astronomers estimate this icy object to have a diameter of 100 to 200 km, making it about ten times wider than a regular comet.
However, that is a rough estimate due to the comet’s great distance from Earth.
The comet will make its closest approach to Earth in 2031, although it remains at a considerable distance.
“That thing is possible biggest comet ever seen,” said Bernstein, quoted from Space.com, Friday (2/7/2021).
The comet was first seen in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey taken in 2014.
Currently, the comet is located at a distance of about 20 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, where one AU is the Earth-sun distance of about 150 million km.
When Comet C/2014 UN271 approaches Earth in 2031, it will remain at a distance of 11 AU.
Hal lain yang membuat komet itu istimewa, selain ukurannya adalah Komet C/2014 UN271 belum pernah mengunjungi tata surya bagian dalam dalam tiga juta tahun.
Menurut tim ahli, komet tersebut berasal sekitar 40.000 AU dari Matahari di Awan Oort, merupakan wilayah angkasa yang sangat jauh dan diperkirakan menampung triliunan komet.
Para ahli menduga, mungkin ada lebih banyak komet yang belum ditemukan seukuran ini, bersembunyi di Awan Oort di luar Pluto dan Sabuk Kuiper.
Tim berharap dapat melakukan pengamatan terhadap komet itu ketika mendekati Bumi menggunakan teleskop luar angkasa yang lebih canggih di masa depan, seperti Extremely Large Telescope milik Badan Antariksa Eropa (ESA) dan James Webb Space Telescope NASA.
Itulah penemuan komet rakasa yang diklaim sebegai komet terbesar yang pernah dideteksi pada zaman modern ini. (Suara.com/ Lintang Siltya Utami).
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