Scientists have determined the size of the largest comet in the solar system

In our space house with you, the solar system, there is an incredible number of various space objects, including comets. So last year, astronomers finally managed to determine the size of a comet discovered back in 2014. C/14 UN271, also called Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein.

It turned out that at the moment it is the largest comet in the solar system with a diameter of 150 kilometers. That's about this event and will be discussed in the current material.

What is known about the largest comet

For the most part, the comet is surrounded by a cloud of dust of various gases, so it is very difficult to determine their exact size by direct observations, but these “interferences” make it possible to bypass radio telescopes.

So, in order to find out the real size of the Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet, scientists from the Paris Observatory decided to use the Atacama Large Millimeter Array in South America.

It is noteworthy that at the time of studying and refining the dimensions of the comet, it was located at a distance of 19.6 astronomical units (one astronomical unit is equal to

149 597 870 700 meters, which corresponds to the distance from the Earth to the Sun), which in itself is a rarity in scientific research of this kind.

Scientists believe that this comet comes from the Oort cloud, which is located on the edge of the conditional boundary of our system. And the orbit of the comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is such that it is able to move away from the Sun at a distance of a whole light year, and the complete revolution of the comet in its orbit is an impressive 5.5 million Earth years.

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is currently on its way to the inner solar system. At the closest possible distance from the Earth, the comet will be in 2031. But it will be almost impossible to consider it without the use of technical devices.

The thing is that at this moment it (the comet) will be located beyond the orbit of Saturn. But, despite such a far distance from the Sun, scientists suggest that the Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet will still decrease in size by almost half.

Astronomers will continue to study this space object to learn as much as possible about the chemical composition and configuration of the comet's nucleus.

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