‘Devil comet’ hurtling towards Earth to explode today, scientists say
Thar she blows.
A horned “Devil Comet” that’s been hurtling toward Earth is set to “blow” on Friday or Saturday, which would mark its second eruption in just over two weeks.
“The last few outbursts have been on a 15-day cadence and we might be coming up to another one,” Nick James of the British Astronomical Association (BAA) told Spaceweather.com.
The comet, known as 12P, is a cryovolcano — or cold comet — which erupts when a large amount of gas and ice amasses and combusts like frozen Coke can.
This causes the frosty guts of the comet — which measures 18.6 miles in diameter, or the size of a small city — to spout from large cracks in the nucleus’ crust.
According to the astronomy site, this interstellar snowball had its last icy outburst on December 14, meaning its next one could be as soon as December 29 or 30.
The celestial hailstone’s biweekly combustions are due to the fact that it spins on a 2-week cycle, per the site. Every 15 days or so, the sun hits a cryovolcanic vent on the comet’s surface, triggering the eruptions.
“Comet 12P has a super cryogeyser, eruption of which is triggered after local sunrise at its location,” said BAA section director Richard Miles, who compared 12P to “Old Faithful.”
This could reportedly be the ice ball’s biggest explosion since November 14, which made the comet 100 times brighter than normal for days afterward, WION reported.
Interestingly, during prior eruptions, the arctic blast caused the coma — the cloud of gas at the comet’s center — to sprout “horns,” earning 12P the moniker “Devil Comet.”
However, astronomers observed these appendages were less pronounced during recent eruptions; The November 14 one appeared to have an almost perfectly spherical atmosphere.
Despite this satanic space ball’s ominous shape and trajectory, there’s no need to brace for deep impact just yet.
The cosmic ice cube — which orbits around the sun every 71 years — won’t reach its closest point to Earth until Spring 2024, whereupon it will become visible to the naked eye.
