NASA Finds Largest Comet in History, Hundreds of Kilometers Wide
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NASA finds the largest comet in history, hundreds of kilometers wide (Photo: NOIRLab) |
Reporting from Science Alert, Friday (15/4/2022), the shape of the giant comet, named C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein), was caught by the Hubble space telescope.
It is known, the comet has been traveling to the Sun for more than 1 million years. Comet C/2014 UN271 originates from the Oort Cloud which is a giant spherical scattering of icy bodies in the deepest and furthest stretch of the Solar System. So far away, the Oort Cloud itself is difficult to detect.
Comet C/2014 UN271, is thought to have formed since the beginning of the formation of the inner Solar System. The gravity of giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn is what makes comet C/2014 UN271 come closer.
"This comet is truly the tip of the iceberg for thousands of comets that are too dim. We always thought this comet must be big because it is so bright at such a great distance. Now we can confirm it," said astronomer David Jewitt of the University of California, Los Angeles. Angeles (UCLA).
The existence of comet C/2014 UN271 itself, has actually been suspected since 2010. Since then, this comet has been studied intensively until finally information about the comet has been collected in the range of 2014 to 2018.
Finally, recently Jewitt and fellow researchers, led by first author Man-To Hui of the Macau University of Science and Technology, calculated the C/2014 UN271 size in the highest resolution.
They calculated based on previous estimates, using Hubble observations and modeling to isolate the nucleus from the comet's coma, until the comet's existence was confirmed.
Again and again we have to acknowledge the greatness of God, the creator of this universe. We as humans are just a speck of creatures that are very small compared to other creations of God. Almighty God over all creation.
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