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UCLA scientists are sharing an exciting discovery: the largest comet astronomers have ever seen is heading toward our part of the cosmos. Luckily, there's no threat of it hitting Earth since it won't come closer to us than Saturn, reports NBC7.
According to the scientists' observations and calculations, the comet (Comet C/2014 UN271) is between 80 and 85 miles across. "The typical size of a comet is more like 1 mile," David Jewitt, professor of planetary science and astronomy at UCLA told NBC7. Even Halley's comet is about 9.3 by 5 miles across, according to NASA. For more context, NBC7 reports this massive comet is more than twice the width of Rhode Island.
"Its nucleus is about 50 times larger than that at the heart of most known comets," a statement about the comet from UCLA stated. "Its mass is estimated to be a staggering 500 trillion tons, a hundred thousand times greater than the mass of a typical comet found much closer to the sun."
The comet caught the attention of scientists because of its proximity to the Oort Cloud, a spherical "bubble" of objects encircling the solar system which is home to the oldest relics of the solar system.
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