A giant comet three times the size of Mount Everest has just reportedly experienced a quite violent explosion.
Not only did it explode, the giant comet was also reportedly headed towards Earth. Quoted from the Daily Mail, the comet known as 12P/Pons-Brooks is known as a cryovolcanic comet or cold volcano. According to astronomers, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks has apparently exploded since October 5, 2023.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks has a colossal diameter of 19.6 miles or around 315 kilometers and consists of ice, dust and gas.
Meanwhile, compared to Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world is only 5.5 miles or around 88.5 kilometers high. When it exploded, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks acted like the carbonation in a coke bottle.
This happens because when heated by the sun, the pressure in this cryo magma continues to increase until the nitrogen and carbon monoxide explode and release ice debris through large cracks in the core shell. The explosion that occurred at the beginning of this month marks the second incident on comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in the last four months.
It is known that the first explosion from comet 12P/Pons-Brooks occurred previously in July 2023 according to the Science Times report. The British Astronomical Association, which monitors comet activity, said the outburst this time appeared tens of times brighter because of the light reflected by the cloud of gas surrounding its center.
In this case, the explosion of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks then created a cloud of gas that looks like a horn when viewed through a telescope. Some speculation also states that the shape also looks like a horseshoe, similar to the Millennium Falcon spaceship in Star Wars.
The cause of the horns’ appearance is still unclear, but experts believe that it may be caused by the shape of the comet’s nucleus. “The two ‘horns’ may have been caused by an oddly shaped cryovolcanic vent with some kind of blockage causing material to escape in a strange flow pattern,” said Richard Miles of the British Astronomical Association.
Scientists say that the debris from comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will be visible to the naked eye when it reaches its closest point to Earth. This appearance is expected to appear next year in April 2024. In that month, the comet is expected to reach magnitude +4 so that it can be seen with the naked eye in May and June 2024 too. Even though it is reported that it is heading towards Earth, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks won’t really hit.
However, when it arrives at the closest point to Earth, the comet will be thrown back outside the solar system and will only return in 2095.
Pons-Brooks is currently in the constellation Hercules and can be observed from the east-north-east at an altitude of 36 degrees above the horizon. During its journey to Earth, the comet is expected to continue to erupt and experience a more powerful explosion than before.
However, this comet is not one of the most volatile types of volcanic comet in the solar system. (jpc)
2023-10-21 18:02:46
#Exciting #Comet #Times #Size #Mount #Everest #Explodes #Heads #Earth #Happen
