SERAMBINEWS.COM – A comet three times the size of Mount Everest has reportedly exploded and is heading towards Earth.
Kompas.com reported, Friday (20/10/2023), this comet named 12P/Pons-Brooks exploded on October 5 2023.
12P/Pons-Brooks is a cryovolcano comet with a diameter or comet nucleus size of around 30 kilometers.
For comparison, the highest peak on the Earth’s surface, Mount Everest, is about 8.8 kilometers high. Therefore, this comet is said to be more than three times the size of Mount Everest.
So, what is the impact on the Earth?
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will only pass close to Earth
Indonesian amateur astronomer, Marufin Sudibyo, explained that 12P/Pons-Brooks is a periodic comet that orbits the Sun regularly over a period of 71 years.
“Like periodic comets in general, the orbit of comet Pons–Brooks is very oval,” said Marufin, when contacted by Kompas.com, Sunday (22/10/2023).
This comet’s orbit stretches from the orbit of Venus for perihelion or the closest point to the Sun, and further from the orbit of Neptune for the farthest point or aphelion.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks itself is predicted to reach perihelion on April 21, 2024.
Not towards Earth, Marufin corrected that this comet would only pass near the planet where humans live.
For this reason, in general, there will be no negative impact from the passage of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks.
“Meanwhile, the closest position to Earth will be reached on June 2 2024, (with a distance of) 232 million kilometers,” he explained.
In Indonesia, this comet will appear in the western sky after sunset on June 2 2024 at an altitude of around 10 degrees.
2023-10-23 03:00:13
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