Here comes the extraordinary astronomical wonder, a comet that is now sweeping near the sun, now visible through binoculars, but soon visible to the naked eye.
The comet is the C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) comet discovered in 2021, and in July 2021, astronomers took 15 images of PanSTARRS comet with an exposure time of 240 seconds, which were superimposed to produce a color image that looked very interesting.
Where did Comet PanSTARRS come from?
According to the speed and orbit of PanSTARRS comet, it is most likely from the Oort Cloud, which should be the first visit to the interior of the solar system, the Oort cloud surrounds the entire solar system nebula, even up to 1 light-year in diameter, PanSTARRS comet may take millions of years from the outside of the Oort cloud to the sun.
Comet PanSTARRS sweeps across the sun
Comet PanSTARRS swept across the Sun on April 21, 2022, just 0.29 AU from the Sun, one auronometer of 150 million km, and 0.29 AU closer than Mercury's orbit.
Mercury is close to the Sun, so the temperature of Mercury's surface is as high as 430 degrees Celsius, so PanSTARRS comet will become very hot, grow a long tail, water and gas erupt madly, the comet expands very large, this time through binoculars visible.
Of course, at such a high temperature, PanSTARRS Comet is likely to collapse, like some comets, scattered with a large number of debris, fragments flying near the sun, if you accidentally fall into the Earth's atmosphere, it is a meteor.
Return to interstellar space
Now, Comet PanSTARRS is flying fast enough, and the speed is getting faster and faster, because of the effect of the gravitational slingshot effect, the Sun has a huge gravitational pull, and the gravitational slingshot effect is extremely strong.
After approaching the Sun, If PanSTARRS does not survive, it will escape the solar system with great speed, and it is very likely to break the shackles of the solar system and fly to a wider interstellar space, never to return, that is, to return to interstellar space.
Visible to the naked eye
If Comet PanSTARRS survives, it will reach its closest position to Earth at 18:00 UTC on May 8, 2022, safely entering our night sky, about 0.6 astronomical units from Earth, or 82 million kilometers, about 200 times the distance between Earth and Moon, and an expected brightness of +7 or +6, etc.
If the weather is good and lucky enough, it may be visible to the naked eye, but it may not be visible, as one comet expert once said: No one knows exactly how bright the comet will become, so PanSTARRS is the same, in case it is not visible, it is best to prepare a binocular telescope to look far away.
Comet PanSTARRS approaches the Sun from above the ecliptic plane, then flies below the ecliptic plane, reaches perihelion and then flies up from below the ecliptic plane, so the northern hemisphere of the Earth is very conducive to observing the comet, and the continent is in the northern hemisphere, and we are blessed.
At last
Extraordinary astronomical wonders have come, and now PanSTARRS comet is getting closer and closer to us, and it is about to appear in the night sky, and friends who want to see it should set the alarm Oh, the time is May 8th. Interesting scientific exploration content, please pay attention to the only WeChat public account: Interesting Exploration