Will it, won't it? Comet 'exploding' every 15 days stops erupting
Comet (File picture)
With literally billions and billions of celestial bodies, and several things that can go 'wrong' or 'right', predicting anything about space with absolute accuracy is an extremely arduous task. In one such incident, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, nicknamed 'Old faithful' by astronomers has stopped exploding. The explosions that used to happen every 15 days are not happening anymore, thus putting scientists in a fix.
The comet has cryovolcanic activity, which means it spews ice into space. Think about volcanoes but instead of red, hot lava capable of toasting you in milliseconds, they spew ice.
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Like any other celestial body, scientists and astronomers have been keeping a watch on Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. It was observed that the comet 'exploded' with cryovolcanic activity on November 14, December 1 and December 14 in the year gone by. Experts were expecting it to explode again on December 29. But even as they held their breaths, the comet decided to stay calm, baffling everybody.
The nucleus of the comet has a diameter of about 34 kilometres. It has been in news all through last year due to its 'all-guns'blazing' behaviour. It drew significant attention of the scientific community in July last year when its brightness increased to a large extent. At that time, it was 3.9 Astronomical Units away from the Sun.
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One Astronomical Unit is the distance between the Earth and the Sun. This, and multiples of this distance is often used as sort of yardstick for shorter distances in space. For everything else... there's 'lightyear'.
"There have been no significant outbursts since the one on December 14," said Nick James of the British Astronomical Association, as quoted in a report by India Today.
"We are coming up to 30 days since the last outburst, so please observe this comet whenever you can."
It has been forecast that the Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will attain maximum brightness in April this year. At that time, it will be closer to Sun than the Earth.
While all that is fun, scientists are also waiting with baited breath for the comet's next explosion. If it keeps up with its previously established punctuality, we should see an explosion around January 15.
(With inputs from agencies)