The largest comet ever discovered has been traveling towards the Sun for over 1 million years, and it shines a light on the mysterious objects that make up one of the biggest structures in our Solar System.
The Hubble Space Telescope was used to confirm that the solid center of the comet is the largest nucleus ever detected. It is 50 times larger than most known comets.
It might say more about us and our limited conception of comets than it does about anything else.
The Oort Cloud is home to a large spherical scattering of icy objects proposed to surround the Sun at the deepest and most distant stretches of our Solar System.
Sounds big, right? It is, theoretically speaking. The Oort Cloud is so far away that it is difficult to detect, even though it is considered to be one of the largest structures in our Solar System.
Something emerges out of this enigmatic mass when it is lured towards the Sun from the remoteness of the Cosmic hinterlands.
A nucleus comparison. Zena Levy is from the NASA/ESA/STScI.
The frozenpristine mass that make up the Oort Cloud can be seen in C/2014 UN271. These are thought to have formed early in the Solar System, before being flung out to its fringes by the effects of giant planets.
astronomer David Jewitt from UCLA says that this comet is the tip of the iceberg for many thousands of comets that are too faint to see in the more distant parts of the Solar System.
The comet is so bright that we thought it had to be big. We confirm that it is.
Jewitt and fellow researchers, led by first author Man-To Hui from the Macau University of Science and Technology, calculated the size of C/2014 UN271 in the highest resolution yet. They built upon previous estimates by using Hubble observations and modeling to separate the nucleus from the coma of the comet.
The team writes in their new paper that C/2014 UN271 is the largest comet ever detected.
The Macau University of Science and Technology is a part of NASA.
The Hubble image of the comet, its coma, and isolated nucleus are shown in the above sequence.
The discovery of C/2014 UN271 was announced last year after it was found hidden in a body of observational data. Subsequent analyses show that C/2014 UN271 was picked up as early as 2010.
Even that early glimpse doesn't encompass the length of the comet's journey. It has been slowly approaching the Sun for over 1 million years, following an elliptical pattern around it.
Bernardinelli-Bernstein will be 1 billion miles from the Sun in 2031, when it will reach its closest approach.
We have almost a decade of improving observational opportunities ahead of us, to learn more about the comet as it draws closer, before it slips off into the dark once more.
The findings are reported in a journal.
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