The largest comet in the solar system is moving towards Earth at terrifying speed! Are we in danger? Know what NASA has to say.
NASA says that the Hubble Space Telescope has found a giant comet with the largest nucleus astronomers have ever seen. NASA says the giant comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein (C / 2014 UN271) is about 128 KM in diameter, making it even larger than Rhode Island in the US and its nucleus 50 times larger than that of comets. knew otherwise. But what is alarming is how fast it is heading towards Earth! According to NASA, Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is on its way. NASA mentions that comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is moving at 22,000 miles per hour from the edge of the solar system toward Earth.
However, NASA says that the comet will never come closer than 1 billion miles to Earth. And the good news is that it won’t make the closest approach to Earth before 2031.
Danger is still there
But still, scientists’ biggest fear is “what will happen if the comet deviates slightly from its path.” And the answer won’t relax you because it could bring up the worst possible scenario – the apocalypse as we know it!
What would happen if a comet collided with Earth?
NASA has identified three main factors that influence the severity of an asteroid strike, in this case the comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein.
- The first factor is body weight; The larger the body, the greater the damage.
- The second factor is the speed of the celestial body. In simpler terms, a slower moving object has less kinetic energy, which will gradually evaporate. While, on the contrary, a high speed object will transfer a large amount of energy at a fast rate, which will deal more damage.
- And the last element is the structure of the celestial body. That means the comet’s structure also plays an important role in the comet’s eventual impact on Earth. In general, it is said that ice bodies are worse than icy bodies.
And by keeping all three factors in place, comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is capable of smashing the Earth into many small pieces and destroying all life!
That means we’re safe unless the comet changes its course!
