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Cryovolcanic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks has a diameter of approximately 30 kilometers.
Scientists discovered that it erupts every 15 days and placed the next one on Friday.
READ MORE: Huge ‘devil comet’ explodes again in its biggest outburst yet
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A city-sized comet hurtling toward Earth has erupted dozens of times this year, leading scientists to discover a pattern to its outbursts — and it’s because it “explodes.”
Called a devil’s comet because it grows horns during eruptions, the space rock appears to violently expel ice and gas every 15 days.
The last event occurred on December 14, which puts the next event on December 29 or 30.
Astronomers discovered that the cosmic object, formally known as comet 12P, rotates over a period of two weeks, which positions its cryovolcanic vent toward the sun and is activated by intense heat.
The comet last erupted on December 14, so the next eruption will be on Friday or Saturday.
Richard Miles of the British Astronomical Association said spaceweather.com: ‘It’s like ‘Old Faithful’.
“Comet 12P has a super cryogyser whose eruption is activated after local sunrise at its location.”
12P/Pons-Brooks is known as a cryovolcanic comet (or cold volcano), exhibiting volcanic activity.
But instead of spewing molten rock and lava like a volcano on Earth, a cryovolcanic comet releases a mixture of gases and ice.
When a cryovolcanic comet approaches the Sun, as 12P/Pons-Brooks is doing, it heats up and generates pressure in the core.
The pressure builds until the nitrogen and carbon monoxide explode, spewing icy debris through large cracks in the core layer.
It’s called a devil’s comet because it grows horns during eruptions like this one in October.
After approaching us, the space rock will be thrown back into the outer solar system and won’t return until 2095.
These gaseous streams can form distinctive shapes when viewed through a telescope, such as the devil’s horns, also described as a horseshoe, or the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars.
The space rock is about the size of the famous Halley’s Comet and was last visible to the naked eye on Earth in 1954.
It is also known as a “Halley-type comet” because its 71-year orbit around the Sun puts it in the same class as the most famous space rock in history, which takes about 75 years to circle our star, unlike thousands of others. years like most comets.
Although Pons-Brooks will be at its closest point to Earth in April 2024, it is expected to reach magnitude +4, so it could also be visible to the naked eye in May and June 2024.
It will be brightest in the night sky on June 2, 2024.
The comet’s name comes from two astronomers who discovered it: Jean-Louis Pons and William Robert Brooks.
Pons first identified it in 1812 and Brooks again in 1883, determining that Comet Diablo returns to our solar system every 71 years.
«At least seven major explosions have been observed since the 19th century, reports SpaceWeather.
“2023 is on track to equal that figure in just one year.”