2014 UN271 (Comet)
By DarthVader
Date: 2021-07-13
Topic: 26 see comments
Post views: 1267
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2014_UN271_(Bernardinelli-Bernstein) 2014 UN271 is possibly one of the largest comets ever documented and was discovered in 2014 just outside of Neptunes orbit, the comet will arrive at its perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) around 23 January 2031 at a distance of 10.95 AU, which is just outside of Saturn's orbit. The object is estimated to be around 100km in diameter, and was initially classified as a minor planet until it was quickly re-classified as a comet following further observations of cometary activity, where heat from the sun warms the icey body which begins to release gasses It is quite interesting to wonder what this large distant object might look like on its distant lone journey out in the far reaches of space in our home solar system, where earth might appear as a spec in the distance, and light from the sun is faded and almost all of the heat from her rays of light have diminished. 2014 UN271 may be very ancient surviving for millions of years orbiting our sun as the planets formed and changed, but the object itself had it's begginings in the same way as gas and dust collected to form planets and moons, or perhaps the object was flung out into space following a collision of two planets. One thing is for sure though, the life of this comet is slow and tranquil, with the only life to ever witness it being over 4,000,000,000 miles away
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