One of the largest comets known to date, C / 2017 K2, will arrive closest to Earth on July 14th. With a small telescope, anyone can observe the object.
One of the largest known comets is approaching our planet. This will be the only time in our lives when an object passes through the interior of the Solar System.
Five years ago, in 2017, the Hubble Space Telescope detected a comet between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus – read CNET article.
The comet, named AC / 2017 K2, will be closest to Earth on July 14th. However, even then, it will be farther from us than the average distance between Earth and Mars. This will probably make it harder to detect a comet, so anyone who wants to look should get at least a small pair of binoculars.
Comet 2017 K2 Panstarrs on the 17th.
Courtesy Gerald Rhemann, Farm Tivoli, Namibia. pic.twitter.com/raCWhTMMUw— Con Stoitsis (@vivstoitsis) June 18, 2022
The actual size of the comet’s core is still surrounded by uncertainty, according to a recent NASA study, it could be 18 to 161 kilometers in diameter. The comet’s coma is also huge, ranging in length from 130,000 to 800,000 kilometers.
After passing in July, the C / 2017 K2 will continue its journey towards the Sun and then start again in the outer region of the system. Because the cauldron’s orbit is extremely long, the celestial body will not return to our solar system for millions of years.
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