And huge and inusual cometa that scientists estimate could have come from another solar system is currently heading towards our Sun. Its about 96P/Machholz 1known as the 96P, which measures 3.7 miles wide (six kilometers) and It is the size of Mount Kilimanjaro.the fourth ultra-prominent peak on Earth, behind Everest, Aconcagua and Denali.
The “alien” rock was first seen on May 12, 1986 by amateur astronomer Donald Machholz from Loma Prieta Peak, California, with the help of a homemade telescope. Since then he has had five approaches to the Sun but this tuesday will the nearest to date, after have entered the Mercury orbit.
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’96P is a very atypical comet, both in composition and behaviorso we never know exactly what we could see,’ Karl Battams, an astrophysicist at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, told the specialized site. Spaceweather.com.
“I wish we can get some beautiful science of this and share it with everyone as soon as we can,” he added, referring to the possibility of discovering more secrets about the comet as it moves even closer to the star that supports life on Earth. Currently, the celestial body is monitored by the spaceship of Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) of the European Space Agency.
As specified by the international aerospace organization, 96P will make its closest approach to the sun in five years today, when it is three times closer than Mercuryleaving a icy trail in its wake.
Among the theories about its origin, it is estimated that the rock could have been pushed out of its original system by the gravity of a giant exoplanet and then, after wandering the universe, was captured by Jupiter and began to orbit the Sun. There is also the possibility that it is not really an “alien” element and comes from a lesser-known area of our system.
a rare comet
The 96P/Machholz 1 is unusual in several respects. Its highly eccentric orbit of 5.29 years it has the smallest known perihelion (closest point to the Sun) distance among numbered short-period comets. It is also the only known short-period orbital with a high orbital inclination and high eccentricity.
Another of the many fascinating features of the Machholz 1 is how its size allows it to survive. Most comets heading in the direction of the sun tend to be less than 32 feet (10 meters) wide, which means they burn out as they get closer.
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In 2007, it was discovered that the celestial body was depleted in both carbon and cyanogena almost unique chemical composition between the comets This aspect could imply a different and possible extrasolar origin. Now, it will remain in SOHO’s field of view until February 2 and It will light up when it gets closer to the Sun. for an immediate meeting on February 7th.
According to NASA, 96P is the “most frequent cometary visitor” of the aforementioned spacecraft, taking into account that the probe has detected more than 3,000 comets since its launch in 1995.
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