Photo: MAXIM MALINOVSKY/Getty Images
Just days after the bright green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) visits Earth for the first time in more than 50,000 years, a larger comet probably from another solar system is heading towards the Sun in what will be a super-close trip to our star.
The comet called 96P/Machholz 1, at 6 kilometers in diameter, is the size of a city (or the size of Mount Kilimanjaro), in contrast to comets that come close to the Sun, which are typically the size of a house.
Now, almost 40 years after its first sighting, 96P/Machholz 1 is about to make its closest approach to the Sun in more than half a decade after entering the orbit of Mercury.
Here’s the latest view of comet 96P in the non-standard LASCO C3 90-sec exposure orange filter images. These were processed using pretty much that same basic (9 line!) python algorithm I talked about yesterday. I added a splash of color here to make it look a tad prettier ☄️☀️🛰️ pic.twitter.com/G7EFLo0Clb
— Karl Battams (@SungrazerComets) January 30, 2023
Intruder from another solar system?
In addition to its unusual size, comet 96P/Machholz 1 has, according to comparative analyses, less than 1.5% of expected cyanogen levels and a low carbon content, leading astronomers to conclude that it could be an intruder from another solar system.
“96P is a very unusual comet, both in its composition and in its behavior, so we never know exactly what we can see,” he told spaceweather.com Karl Battams, an astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC.
Battams awaits with open eyes how the possible interstellar body will react. Especially since 96P appears to be large enough to survive a close pass by the Sun, which could unlock more secrets of this space rock..
“Hopefully we can get some beautiful science out of this and share [esto] with everyone as soon as we can,” said Battams, who has been tracking the comet’s progress toward the Sun using SOHO, NASA’s solar observatory.
Read more:
Pope Francis asks economic powers to “get their hands off” of Africa
Blake Charbonneau, one of Canada’s most wanted criminals for sexual assault, falls in Mexico
Woman looked for her “double” on Instagram to kill her with 50 stab wounds and thus fake her own death in Germany