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Astronomers reported that a giant comet that has the size of a dwarf planet is hurtling toward Earth .
This celestial object is said to have a size between 64-230 miles (100-370 km) and is expected to reach its closest point to Earth in 2031.
This comet made of ice and rock is known as 2014 UN271. Astronomers have identified the object through the findings of the Dark Energy Survey .
It is even more interesting to mention that its approach to Earth is a rare event because it will be the period of its approach to Earth for the first time in 600,000 years.
In addition, astronomers were also surprised by the orbit of this comet that moves through the inner solar system as well as the Oort cloud.
Another unique fact is that this comet orbits a vast and mysterious region in our solar system, and it took about 612,190 years to complete.
Comet 2014 UN271 is currently about 22 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, of which one AU is about 150 million kilometers or the Earth-Sun average distance.
Astronomers data show that this object covered a distance of seven AU in just one year. This means that this comet will have a distance of 10.9 AU (1.6 billion kilometers) from the Sun in 2031 or almost about the distance of the Planet Saturn-Sun.
So from now until 2031, this celestial object is predicted to develop a comet tail from its icy material on the surface that evaporates due to the heat of the Sun.
Launching from the Daily Mail , Thursday (24/6/2021), experts say comet 2014 UN271 will be as bright as Pluto in the night sky, but most likely only reaches the brightness of Charon, Pluto's satellite.
So in other words, it is impossible for amateur sky watchers in the future to be able to see this comet without a capable telescope.
Citing via Syfy Ware , although starting to make its closest approach to Earth, this comet is no closer than about 1.5 billion kilometers. This means that the Earth is not in a dangerous path when this comet passes.
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