• News
    • Tech News
    • AI
  • Gadgets
    • Apple
    • iPhone
  • Gaming
    • Playstation
    • Xbox
  • Science
    • News
    • Space
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
  • Vehicles
    • Car News
  • Social Media
    • WhatsApp
    • YouTube
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
TikTok
Snapchat
WhatsApp
Submit Your Content
'Devil comet bigger than Mount Everest’ just made its closest approach of Earth

Home> Science> Space

Published 09:48 4 Jun 2024 GMT+1

'Devil comet bigger than Mount Everest’ just made its closest approach of Earth

This was a once-in-a-lifetime sight for astronomers.

Prudence Wade

Prudence Wade

A lot of naming conventions in astronomy are pretty boring - giving distant planets names that sound more like boring ZIP codes than anything else, but every so often something more colorful will come around.

Take the 'Devil comet' - it's a perfect example, thanks to a really ominous name that summons up images of all sorts of apocalyptic scenarios.

And on Sunday, 2 June, the comet made its closest approach to Earth

The flying rock, which is bigger in mass than Mount Everest, came within 143 million miles (230 million kilometers) of our planet, which is still massively far away, but surprisingly close in astronomical terms.

Advert

It was therefore visible to the naked eye - making for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, since it takes 71 years to orbit the Sun and therefore won't be seen again for practically a lifetime.

Christophe Lehenaff / Getty
Christophe Lehenaff / Getty

The Devil comet's official name is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which hardly captures the imagination in the same way.

In terms of distance, it's worth putting the comet's approach in context - the Sun itself is some 93 million miles (149 million kilometers) miles from Earth, so the comet never even got closer than this - but that's still near enough to see it.

In fact, its brightest point came back in April, so keen stargazers have been looking out for it for a few weeks now.

That double-barrelled name comes from the fact that the Devil comet is one we've known about for a very long time - Jean-Louis Pons and William Robert Brooks each observed it in the 19th Century - Pons in 1812 and Brooks in 1883. It ended up sharing their name, therefore, but that official designation was soon overtaken by its nickname.

Javier Zayas Photography / Getty
Javier Zayas Photography / Getty

The reason it's called the devil comet is quite simple - its shape and the trail it leaves behind make it look a little like a sphere with two small horns on it, almost like a devil.

Some have compared it to the prongs on the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo's spaceship in Star Wars, but the older name has stuck around much longer.

These horns are actually apparently caused by small outbursts, where the comet ejects gas and dust from itself in jets - which is just one aspect of its behavior that scientists can watch carefully to learn more about.

It will doubtless have been charted by a range of different researchers this weekend as it passed so close to us.

Featured Image Credit: solarseven / Getty / Gianluca Masi/Virtual Telescope Project
Science
Space
Earth
Sun
News

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

21 hours ago
22 hours ago
23 hours ago
a day ago
  • Tom Werner / Getty
    21 hours ago

    Man who did 300 kettlebell swings every day for 30 days reveals what it did to his body

    If this doesn't get you off the sofa, nothing will

    Science
  • NASA
    22 hours ago

    NASA gives look into Orion's close quarters that will house astronauts around Moon and everyone has the same concern

    It's not exactly a five-star stay

    Science
  • Facebook/Martha Lillard
    23 hours ago

    Woman who has used iron lung for over 65 years recalls horrifying moment she was trapped in machine

    She's the last known person in the US to use the machine

    Science
  • SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Getty
    a day ago

    Pancreatic cancer symptoms explained as research for cure hits major milestone

    Catching pancreatic cancer early is the key to survival

    Science
  • Scientists issue chilling new prediction about when humanity could face its horrifying end
  • Earth could be hit today by insane 600,000 mile-wide solar eruption that triggers extreme geomagnetic storm
  • 'Once in a lifetime double comet' set to be visible from today in close approach to Earth
  • 'Devil comet bigger than Mount Everest’ is heading toward Earth