Space: The largest observed comet is heading towards our solar system

Comet C/2002 VQ94 (Linear), 90 kilometers in diameter, was the largest yet discovered. Thanks to observations with the Hubble telescope, comet 2014 UN271 – also called Bernardinelli-Bernstein after its first observers – dethroned it today.

This comet was discovered in 2014, but when it was too far from us, its exact size could not be determined. Observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope have recently made it possible to estimate it.

This star has a diameter of about 130 kilometers, a core about 50 times larger than that of most known comets. The weight is just as impressive, NASA speaks of 500 billion tons.

“This comet is literally the tip of the iceberg of several thousand comets that are too faint to be seen in the most remote parts of the solar system. We always suspected that this comet must be large because it is so bright at such a great distance. Now we confirm that this is the case,” said David Jewitt, a professor of planetary science and astronomy at the University of California and a co-author of the study published in “The Astrophysical Journal Letters”.

It is certainly a gigantic celestial body, whose current trajectory leads it to our planet at 35,000 km/h. – a speed not so extraordinary in the interstellar vacuum, the International Space Station for example, which moves at more than 28,000 km/h.

But the comet must not pass too close to our planet, nor immediately. Indeed, according to the scientists, “the comet will not approach within a billion kilometers of the sun, and it won’t be until 2031”. In January 2031, it would therefore be on the edge of Saturn’s orbit. Once past, it should resume its journey to the “icy frontiers” of the solar system.

According to the authors of the study, Bernardinelli-Bernstein has already been near the sun several times. The next pass would be his second entry into the inner solar system. Suffice it to say that this visit would be considered a historic event.

At this point, scientists believe the comet originated in the Oort Cloud, a place — still hypothetical — around the solar system that is believed to have been the origin of trillions of comets.