Astronomers have spotted a "once-in-a-lifetime" comet in the shape of the Millennium Falcon, and skywatchers will soon be able to see it without a telescope.

The comet, known as Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, suddenly brightened 100 times on 20 July and spewed clouds of debris and ice into space.

This gave the comet the shape of a horseshoe, which scientists liken to the Millennium Falcon spaceship from "Star Wars".

The comet will make its closest pass to the Sun next year, passing about 144 million miles from our planet on 2 June 2024.

What makes this event even more exciting is that the comet will approach North America just a few weeks after the total solar eclipse on 8 April 2024.

"Seeing a comet next to an eclipsed sun happens once in a blue moon," Richard Miles of the British Astronomical Society told Insider.

Although it is possible to see the comet with the naked eye, Miles advised using binoculars. "It should be visible, guaranteed to be much brighter, just in the normal way that all comets become much brighter.

"It could also experience an outburst during the eclipse," he said.

MYSTERY OF THE YEARS

Astronomers are not entirely sure why Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which orbits the Sun once every 71 years, has been so bright in recent weeks.

Miles said it could be an active ice volcano on the surface causing it to light up the sky. "It's a revolutionary idea that a comet has liquid inside it, and scientists have never been able to accept it for decades," Miles said.

"When you see what this comet is doing, you can't really explain it without saying, 'Well, there are solids and gases inside the comet, but there are also liquids inside the comet that make it behave in this very unusual way,'" he added.

Miles said this discovery supports the theory that comets not only bring water to Earth, but also help spread the microbes of life on our planet.

"The comets are coming from the Oort cloud far beyond the orbit of Neptune and Uranus," Dr Edward Gomez of Las Cumbres Observatory in Cardiff, Wales, told Insider.

"These are all things left over from when the solar system formed. Everything that makes up the planets has been evolving for 4.5 billion years (through geophysical processes and weather, for example), but the Oort cloud remains intact. It gives us a great view of what the conditions were like when the planets were forming and how the planets formed."

The outburst of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks was discovered on 20 July by Elek Tamás of the Harsona Observatory in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary. It was then imaged using the Faulkes Telescope by members of the Comet Chasers education and outreach project led by Helen Usher of Cardiff/Open University in the UK.

According to Carrie Holt of the University of Maryland, the comet probably spewed 10 billion kilograms of dust and ice into space, she told Scientific American.

While most people will have to wait until next year to see the comet, amateur astronomers may have a chance to see it now by using a six-inch telescope and pointing it at the constellation Draco in the Northern Sky.

"Right now it's only visible through a telescope in a nice dark place, but during the eclipse next April, it will be bright enough that you can easily find it with a pair of binoculars from your backyard, even if you live in the suburbs," Gomez said.

 

Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/