Largest Comet Discovered

[Hobby]

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has determined the size of the largest icy comet nucleus ever seen by astronomers. The estimated diameter is approximately 80 miles across, making it larger than the state of Rhode Island. The nucleus is about 50 times larger than found at the heart of most known comets. Its mass is estimated to be a staggering 500 trillion tons, a hundred thousand times greater than the mass of a typical comet found much closer to the Sun.



https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/hubble-confirms-largest-comet-nucleus-ever-seen

[dogwalker]

Super awesome on one level because it's amazing to see more about where we are in the universe.   
I don't care on another level because it has zero impact or relevance to my day to day life.

[Zep]

Super awesome on one level because it's amazing to see more about where we are in the universe.   
I don't care on another level because it has zero impact or relevance to my day to day life.

You missed the part where it's headed directly for Earth...

[dogwalker]

Well if it hits me [and it probably won't.....but let's review the situation a year from now] then I still won't care.....still irrelevant.

[Zep]

Well if it hits me [and it probably won't.....but let's review the situation a year from now] then I still won't care.....still irrelevant.

I was just kidding...   Idk where it is or where it's going...

[dogwalker]

ME EITHER. but like I said if it hits me I won't care and if it doesn't I'll keep on living life as planned and that's kind of how it goes

[Hobby]

I was just kidding...  Idk where it is or where it's going...

Don't listen to Dogwalker. He probably didn't read or couldn't read the article...lol

I found this interesting!

The comet has been falling toward the Sun for well over 1 million years. It is coming from the hypothesized nesting ground of trillions of comets, called the Oort Cloud. The diffuse cloud is thought to have an inner edge at 2,000 to 5,000 times the distance between the Sun and the Earth. Its outer edge might extend at least a quarter of the way out to the distance of the nearest stars to our Sun, the Alpha Centauri system.

The Oort Cloud's comets didn't actually form so far from the Sun; instead, they were tossed out of the solar system billions of years ago by a gravitational "pinball game" among the massive outer planets, when the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn were still evolving. The far-flung comets only travel back toward the Sun and planets if their distant orbits are disturbed by the gravitational tug of a passing star – like shaking apples out of a tree.

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein follows a 3-million-year-long elliptical orbit, taking it as far from the Sun as roughly half a light-year. The comet is now less than 2 billion miles from the Sun, falling nearly perpendicular to the plane of our solar system. At that distance temperatures are only about minus 348 degrees Fahrenheit. Yet that's warm enough for carbon monoxide to sublimate off the surface to produce the dusty coma.

[dogwalker]

Yes I did not read the article.  Why would I waste my time reading such nonsense [imo]?
However to claim I "couldn't read it"....get real.....I can obviously read English.
Unless by "couldn't" you mean I have better things to do with my time......then yes I do.
Can someone summarize in one sentence why I should care?  Then I might pay attention.

[Hobby]

Yes I did not read the article.  Why would I waste my time reading such nonsense [imo]?
However to claim I "couldn't read it"....get real.....I can obviously read English.
Unless by "couldn't" you mean I have better things to do with my time......then yes I do.
Can someone summarize in one sentence why I should care?  Then I might pay attention.

No one really cares if you care... hows that?

[HighStepper]

Hubble Confirms Largest Comet Nucleus Ever Seen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAEjtd7pqAE&t=33s

[Heywood69]

Hopefully this guy does a video on it:  https://www.youtube.com/c/whatdamath

[rooftop]

Why important: 
" nesting ground of trillions of comets, called the Oort Cloud. "
Can't wait for opportunity to use "oort cloud" as a metaphor.  Now we need a contest for best use of "oort cloud" to describe something. 

[Heywood69]

Now we need a contest for best use of "oort cloud" to describe something. 

It sounds like something created by cows that is fueling the climate destruction.

[Danno]

Got a work order once that said to repair the Hubble.

[HighStepper]

Why important: 
" nesting ground of trillions of comets, called the Oort Cloud. "
Can't wait for opportunity to use "oort cloud" as a metaphor.  Now we need a contest for best use of "oort cloud" to describe something. 

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The Oort Cloud is an extended shell of icy objects that exist in the outermost reaches of the solar system. It is named after astronomer Jan Oort, who first theorized its existence. The Oort Cloud is roughly spherical, and is thought to be the origin of most of the long-period comets that have been observed.
This cloud of particles is theorized to be the remains of the disc of material that formed the Sun and planets.
Facts about the Oort Cloud:

• Objects in the Oort Cloud are also referred to as Trans-Neptunian objects. This name also applies to objects in the Kuiper Belt.
• Some astronomers theorise that the Sun may have captured Oort Cloud cometary material from the outer disks of other stars that were forming in the same nebula as our star.
• The Oort Cloud is a reserve of cometary nuclei that contain ices dating back to the origin of the solar system.
• No one knows for sure how many objects exist in the Oort Cloud, but most estimates put it at around 2 trillion.
• The planetoid Sedna, discovered in 2003, is thought to be a member of the inner Oort Cloud.
• Astronomers think that long-period comets (those with orbital periods longer than 200 years) have their origins in the Oort Cloud.

https://space-facts.com/oort-cloud/