A giant ‘alien’ comet had a recent near-miss with the sun, which has left scientists scratching their heads because of its ‘weird’ behaviour.
Known formally as 96P/Machholz 1, the comet is believed to have originated from somewhere outside our solar system.
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The ‘ice ball’ was truly massive and measured 3.7 miles wide and was caught on camera by the Solar and Heliospheric Obesrvatory as it plummeted towards the sun earlier this week.
Usually, comets are dissolved when approaching the sun. But the size of this comet, which measured more than two-thirds the height of Mount Everest, LiveScience reports, prevented it from being completely destroyed.
Impressive.
Last month, Karl Battams, the director of the US Naval Research Laboratory’s Sungrazer Project in Washington, DC, tweeted: “96P is one of the most compositionally and behaviorally weird comets in the solar system.
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“We are trying to science the heck out of it.”
Maybe 96P/Machholz 1 likes to be unique.
So far, researchers believe that 96P was catapulted into our solar system as a result of gravity from another planet.
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And a possible run-in with Jupiter might have altered its path and directed it towards the sun.
The comet was first discovered in the 1980s and while some experts think it could be of ‘alien’ origin, others think it came from a foreign place within our solar system.
Scientists also believe that the comet may have originated from a different solar system because the tails of comets usually consist of gas.
However, following analysis of 96P’s material shedding in 2008, scientists found that its wake was comprised of lower levels of cyanogen and carbon than expected.
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Elsewhere in our solar system, a rare green comet made an appearance after 50,000 years.
Named C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the comet originated from the Oort cloud at the outermost edge of the Solar System.
The icy ball only orbits the sun once every 50,000 years, which means the last time it went past our home planet was during the Stone Age – when Neanderthals were still around.
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On Wednesday, Dr Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told the PA news agency: "Long-period comet C/2022 E3 is currently speeding through the solar system and won’t return for at least 50,000 years, assuming it ever does, so it's your once-in-a-lifetime chance to see it.
"Its path across our sky is taking it through the constellation of Draco the dragon and will be passing between the two bears, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, in late January and into early February."
C/2022 E3 was first spotted in March 2022, using the Zwicky Transient Facility in California.
Gregory Robinson