Largest Comet Discovered Approaching the Sun

A major discovery has been made regarding a large comet that has traveled from the Oort Cloud, outside our solar system, toward the sun.

Astronomers have recently observed the comet, known as C/2014 UN271, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope located in Chile.

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) reports that this ice giant measures 85 miles in diameter, which is over ten times larger than any known comet.

According to the NRAO, new observations revealed jets of carbon monoxide gas shooting out from the comet’s icy nucleus.

Researchers have leveraged ALMA’s capabilities to locate comets approximately 17 times deeper in space than the distance between Neptune and Earth.

With the telescope’s high sensitivity and resolution, they focused on the carbon monoxide and the heat emitted by the comet.

Nathan Ross from American University, the lead author of a study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, explained how these findings provide valuable insights into this icy entity traveling through space.

“With these measurements, we can see how this enormous, icy world behaves,” Ross stated. “We’re observing explosive outgassing patterns that prompt new questions about how this comet will evolve as it approaches the inner solar system.”

By combining past ALMA observations with the latest data, researchers were able to assess the characteristics of comets.

They measured the thermal signals to determine the size and the amount of dust surrounding the comet’s core.

Researchers speculate that as C/2014 UN271 nears the sun, more frozen gases may start to vaporize from its surface.

This evaporation could provide additional information on the primordial makeup of this massive icy body.

They also hope that these observations will enhance our understanding of the solar system’s structure.