Remarkableriots Posted July 28, 2023 Share Posted July 28, 2023 City-size comet headed toward Earth 'grows horns' after massive volcanic eruption | Live Science WWW.LIVESCIENCE.COM The exploding comet, known as 12P/Pons–Brooks, is currently approaching its closest point to Earth during its 71-year orbit through the solar system. Quote The comet, named 12P/Pons-Brooks (12P), is a cryovolcanic — or cold volcano — comet. Like all other comets, the icy object is made up of a solid nucleus, filled with a mix of ice, dust and gas, and is surrounded by a fuzzy cloud of gas called a coma, which leaks out of the comet's interior. But unlike most other comets, the gas and ice inside 12P's nucleus build up so much that the celestial object can violently explode, shooting out its frosty guts, known as cryomagma, through large cracks in the nucleus's shell. On July 20, multiple astronomers detected a major outburst from the comet, which suddenly became around 100 times brighter than it usually appears, Spaceweather.com reported. This increase in brightness occurred when the comet's coma suddenly swelled up with gas and ice crystals released from the comet's interior, allowing it to reflect more sunlight back to Earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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stepee Posted July 29, 2023 Share Posted July 29, 2023 lmao Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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