The giant mega-comet will approach the Earth in 10 years, but is already active

American scientists have determined the size of a giant comet that is approaching the Sun. According to a recent

research, its diameter reaches 150 km.For comparison, this is almost 7 times the diameter of Mars’ satellite, Phobos. Astronomers also calculated the mass of comet C/2014 UN271 - it turned out that it is almost 10 times greater than the mass of comet Hale-Bopp. Let us remember that at one time it was called the “Great Comet of 1997.”

As a result, at the moment the cometBernardinelli - Bernstein is considered the largest comet and the largest body from the Oort cloud among all known. Scientists suggest that the current activity of the space object is due to the sublimation of particles of ammonia and carbon dioxide ice. A preprint of the work is available at arXiv.org and is awaiting peer review and review.

@willgater / Twitter, ESA, NASA, NOIRLab

Scientists believe when Comet Bernardinelli -Bernstein will approach Earth, making it an impressive target for ground-based observations. At perihelion it will be slightly dimmer than Titan, Saturn's moon. Initially, C/2014 UN271 was mistaken for a dwarf planet from the Oort cloud. However, it turned out to be a comet whose orbit is 600,000 years.

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