500-Trillion-Ton Comet: The Largest in History is Heading Towards Earth

Recently, scientists have discovered a massive comet speeding toward Earth from the edge of the solar system at 22,000 miles per hour (approximately 35,405 kilometers per hour). This comet, identified by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, is reported to be the largest comet ever observed. It is 50 times the size of a typical comet and may have a mass of up to 5 trillion tons.

According to the Liberty Times, which cites Sci-News, an international research team confirmed on April 12 that a comet discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2010 is the largest ever seen. This comet's nucleus is estimated to have a diameter of about 137 kilometers (85 miles), making it 50 times larger than the central part of most comets. Its mass is an astounding 5 trillion tons, which is 100,000 times greater than that of comets typically found closer to the Sun.

Comets are unique celestial bodies made of ice and dust that orbit the Sun. As they approach the Sun, they develop long tails, which is a defining feature of these bodies.

Reports indicate that this "giant" comet is named "2014 UN271," but it is also known as the "Bernardinelli-Bernstein" comet, after its discoverers. It was first detected in 2014 when it was about 29 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun (1 AU is approximately 149.5 million kilometers). At that time, scientists determined that it originated from the Oort Cloud, a theoretical sphere of icy minor planets surrounding the Sun. Its importance only became apparent when it moved within 24 AU of the Sun.

David Jewitt, a professor of planetary science and astronomy at UCLA, explained that this comet must be extremely large, given its brightness from such a distant point.

NASA states that this comet is currently less than 3.3 billion kilometers from the Sun and is racing toward Earth from the solar system's edge at a speed of 35,200 kilometers per hour. Its elliptical orbit takes approximately 3 million years to complete. However, astronomers assure the public that it poses no threat, as it will never get closer to the Sun than 1.6 billion kilometers, just beyond Saturn's orbit. This closest approach is expected in 2031.

Before this, the record for the largest comet was held by comet C/2002 VQ94, discovered in 2002 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research program (LINEAR), with an estimated nucleus diameter of 100 kilometers.