Tanvi Kapila, Mumbai Uncensored, 16th July 2022:
An enormous comet nicknamed as K2 is twice the size of Mount Everest. Another aspect to be observed is that the comet has entered in the Solar system and was all set to fly by earth this week.
The most distant active comet, Comet K2, has intrigued scientists.
The first time this mega comet was discovered and came to notice was in 2017 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System(PanSTARRS), which also explains the comet’s full name Comet C.2017 K2 (PanSTARRS). The comet, however, at the time of discovery, was 2.4 Billion km away from the sun which is approximately 16 times farther than the distance between Earth and Sun. Scientists were shocked to discover that K2 already had a gaseous coma because comets, which are primarily composed of water ice, are typically thought to be as motionless and lifeless as rocks at this point in the solar system.
The official time for the Comet K2’s approach was 11:09 P.M. on 14 July 2022 EDT on Thursday (8:39 A.M. IST, Friday). Moreover, the fascinating fact about this gigantic comet is that its nucleus is estimated to be around 11 miles (18 kilometers) across – roughly ten times larger than most comets according to the Hubble Space Telescope. Additionally, the halo (atmosphere) or coma has a diameter of around 81,000 miles (130,000 kilometers). It traveled 270 million kilometers (168 million miles) away from Earth (beyond the orbit of Mars). Many were able to catch glimpse of the comet through their telescopes and the pictures surfaced across the internet.
The next sight of the comet is predicted in December 2022 approaching closest to the sun and will grow brighter.
However, debates are ongoing about the right size of the comet between scientists and will continue to be so.
