Astronomers have reportedly discovered that a large object moving from the outer reaches of the solar system will approach as close as Saturn's orbit in the next decade.
The comet, known as 2014 UN271, was first discovered by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) – an international collaborative project started in 2013 that is listed as working at Chile's Victor Blanco Telescope and was founded with the purpose of mapping galaxies, detecting supernovae and uncovering mysteries about dark energy.
According to scientists on social media, the hunk of rock and ice has an estimated diameter of around 130 to 370 kilometers.
An image of the Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) posted by University of Pennsylvania astronomer Pedro Bernardinelli showed a large, white and pixelated blob, which he said was comprised of several DES images taken over a period of years between 2014 and 2018.
The "mega-comet's" orbit has been updated a few times, but is extremely long – hundreds of billions of kilometers from the sun – and takes approximately 600,000 years.
The comet, known as 2014 UN271, was first discovered by the Dark Energy Survey (DES) – an international collaborative project started in 2013 that is listed as working at Chile's Victor Blanco Telescope and was founded with the purpose of mapping galaxies, detecting supernovae and uncovering mysteries about dark energy.
According to scientists on social media, the hunk of rock and ice has an estimated diameter of around 130 to 370 kilometers.
An image of the Trans-Neptunian Object (TNO) posted by University of Pennsylvania astronomer Pedro Bernardinelli showed a large, white and pixelated blob, which he said was comprised of several DES images taken over a period of years between 2014 and 2018.
The "mega-comet's" orbit has been updated a few times, but is extremely long – hundreds of billions of kilometers from the sun – and takes approximately 600,000 years.
'Mega comet' discovered flying into solar system: scientists
Astronomers have reportedly discovered that a large object moving from the outer reaches of the solar system will approach as close as Saturn's orbit in the next decade.
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