The monster comet, three times the size of Mount Everest and the size of a large city, has exploded.
Sprinkles like a shaken soda can
12P is a so-called cold volcanic comet, which basically means it’s a cold volcano.
The core is 30 kilometers in diameter and filled with cryogenic magma, a mixture of dust, ice and gas that acts a bit like carbonation in a soda bottle.
This is because the pressure inside the icy magma continues to rise as it is heated by the Sun, until the nitrogen and carbon monoxide explode and spew the remains of the icy magma through large cracks in the crust of the comet’s nucleus.
He returns to Earth in the year 2095
The comet is currently moving through cold space towards the Earth’s inner solar system, and is located in the constellation Hercules, where it can be observed in a northeasterly direction at an altitude of 36 degrees above the horizon.
On its way to Earth, the comet will likely continue to explode, perhaps even more violently than it already has, according to B.A.A.
The comet will reach its closest point to Earth on April 21 of next year. Here it could become so visible that with the naked eye we would be able to see the whizzing comet explode on its way across our planet.
The visibility of the comet from Earth may vary depending on where you are and the location of the comet in the sky. It is still uncertain where on Earth 12P will be most visible in 2024.
After 12P visits us Earthlings, it will hurtle toward the outer solar system in an elliptical, that is, elliptical, orbit around the Sun, and we won’t see it again until 2095.
The icy volcanic comet is the same size as the famous Halley’s Comet, and was last seen with the naked eye from Earth in 1954.
This means that we can see the comet approximately every 71 years, which is very special. Most comets don’t return for thousands of years, if they return at all.
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