The Largest Comet In History Is Heading Towards Earth With A Speed Of 3.218 Km Per Hour, NASA: No Need To Panic

Observations from a distance through the Hubble telescope, this giant comet is heading towards Earth. (NASA)

JAKARTA – The United States National Space Agency (NASA) announced that it had discovered a giant comet was heading towards Earth. The comet is about 80 miles wide. The comet is thought to be larger than the state of Rhode Island.

These celestial objects can be observed through the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA explained that the comet was streaking through the universe at a speed of 22.000 miles or about 3.218 km per hour, moving to the right from the edge of the solar system and heading toward Earth.

However, Earthlings are advised not to panic. Because the comet named Bernardinelli-Bernstein "will never be closer than 1 billion miles away from the Sun," the comet will be closer to the planet Saturn. Even this point will not be reached by the comet until 2031.

"This comet is the tip of the iceberg for thousands of comets that are too faint to be seen in the more distant parts of the solar system," said David Jewitt, a professor of planetary science and astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

"We always thought this comet must be big because it is very bright even though it is very far away. Now we confirm it," he added.

In February, the discovery of the new largest comet was revealed on the precast site arXiv. Now, the article about the comet is published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The new record-breaking comet is believed to have originated in the Oort Cloud, a nesting site for thousands of comets located somewhere on the edge of the solar system. Bernardinelli-Bernstein provides a valuable glimpse into the size distribution of comets in the Oort Cloud, and therefore their total mass.

The previous record holder among comets was C/2002 VQ94, or comet Hale-Bopp, estimated to be 60 miles in diameter. It was discovered in 2002 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project, according to NASA.