NASA’s Hubble Telescope has discovered an enormous comet hurtling towards Earth.
The cometknown as Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein, after its discoverers, or Comet C/2014 UN271was first spotted in 2010.
However, astronomers were only recently able to measure it using images captured by Hubble.
NASA’s Hubble Telescope has discovered an enormous comet hurtling towards Earth. (Photo: video screenshot viaNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)
Its nucleus is 85 miles wide, stretching across the state of Rhode Island.
The nucleus weighs 5.511 trillion tons.
This is 50 times larger than normal comets and a new record.
The comet’s nucleus. (Photo: video screenshot viaNASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)
This massive celestial beast is hurtling towards Earth at a speed of 22,000 miles per hour.
Thankfully for life on Earth, the comet is on a 3-million-year-long elliptical orbit.
This behemoth marks an exciting new data point in studying the far flung reaches of our universe.
Comet C/2014 UN271 size in perspective. (Photo:NASA)
NASA’s Hubble Telescope has captured images of a 80-mile-wide comet hurtling towards Earth.
The comet’s nucleus.
Comet C/2014 UN271 size in perspective.
(Photo:NASA)
