Featured Image Credit: PaulFleet/Getty / James Yu/Getty
Topics: Science, Space, Technology, News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Science, Space, Technology, News
A huge comet three times the size of Mount Everest is making its way towards Earth.
And we're not joking when we say it's huge as the cold volcano comet has an estimated diameter of 18.6 miles.
The nucleus of the ginormous celestial object is filled with a mix of ice, dust and gas known as cryomagma.
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The comet, named 12P/Pons-Brooks (or 12P for short if you're down with science lingo), recently exploded in space for the second time in four months, giving it back it's 'horned' features.
As to why it exploded, when solar radiation hits the comet's insides the pressure then builds up - sparking an explosion.
It then shoots out its cold insides into space through cracks in the nucleus' shell, giving the comet it's horn-like features.
Richard Miles, from The British Astronomical Association (BAA) said of its unique features: "The two ‘horns’ may be caused by a peculiarly-shaped cryovolcanic vent with some sort of blockage causing material to be expelled with a weird flow pattern."
According to Miles, 12P is one of 20 known comets with active ice volcanoes.
The BAA has been closely monitoring the comet.
Scientists detected the second explosion on October 5 after spotting that 12P became dozens of times brighter than usual due to the extra light reflecting from its expanded coma, the BAA explained.
Images of the explosion were taken by Jose Manuel Pérez Redondo by an 2.0-m Faulkes Telescope North located on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
While 12P is currently on a pathway to Earth, it won't be for a while before the comet reaches its closest point to our planet.
According to LiveScience, the comet will reach its closest point to Earth on April 21, 2024.
It may be visible to the naked eye at the time and, if you dub yourself an astronomer, you might want to get your telescope out for it as it's not expected to head back in our direction again until 2095.
It won't be that close to us though, you'll be pleased to know.
In fact, it'll be a whopping 232 million km away from us at its closest point.
12P has long been on scientists' radar and was first discovered by Jean-Louis Pons on July 12, 1812.
It was then rediscovered independently by William Robert Brooks in 1883 - hence why it's called the 12P/Pons-Brooks.
12P's July eruption marked the comet's first in 69 years.
At the time, it's coma (the comet's horns) grew a whopping 7,000 times wider than the comet's nucleus.
It remains unclear how big the coma grew during the explosion earlier this month, but the BBA notes that it was 'twice as intense' as the previous one over the summer.