A huge comet flew past the Earth, but became larger and headed towards the Sun

Megacomet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS), also called K2, flew past Earth, researchers said.

However, they suggest that the object will become even brighter and larger as it travels further, and will approach the Sun in December 2022.

K2 was next to the Earth on July 15, it passed at a distance of 270 million km from it. The object could be observed live.

The mega-comet was first noticed in 2017 with the help oftelescope Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) in the outer regions of the solar system. The comet is now visible in large amateur telescopes.

The first observations of the comet revealed the potentiala large core and a huge shell of gas and dust. The fact that K2 has a gaseous coma surprised scientists, since at such a depth in the solar system, the temperature is so low that comets, composed mainly of water ice, should be solid.

Scientists are still arguing about the size of the comet.The Canadian-French-Hawaiian Telescope (CFHT) has shown that the K2 core could be 30 to 160 km wide, but data from the Hubble Space Telescope says it could be 18 km wide.

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