A giant volcanic comet after the eruption turned into the "Millennium Falcon"

Scientists from the British Astronomical Association reported about a “flying volcano” in space, on which a major eruption occurred for the first time in a long time a few days ago. Now this object shines like a small star.

We are talking about a comet called 12P/Pons-Brooks (12P). It consists of a solid core filled with ice, dust and gas, and is surrounded by a fuzzy gas cloud. However, like all similar celestial bodies. It differs from others in that gas and ice accumulate in it so intensively that sometimes this leads to "explosions" and the release of cryomagma.

This, apparently, happened on July 20th. Several astronomers immediately recorded a large flash emanating from 12P / Pons-Brooks (12P) - it suddenly became 100 times brighter than usual.

As of July 26, the comet's coma had expanded to about 230,000 kilometers, more than 7,000 times the width of its nucleus (its estimated diameter is about 30 kilometers). And now she looks like she has grown horns, said astronomer from the British Astronomical Association Richard Miles.

Other astronomers have even compared the deformed comet to the Millennium Falcon, the iconic Star Wars spacecraft. But this effect will eventually disappear as the gas and ice eventually dissipate and stop reflecting sunlight.

Miles says this is the first major 12P eruption detected in 69 years. It is possible that "explosions" occur more often, but the comet's orbit takes it too far from the Earth, so they are very difficult to track.

12P has one of the longest orbital periods of any known comet. The "flying volcano" takes about 71 years to make a complete revolution around the Sun.

The comet should reach its closest point to the sun on April 21, 2024. And as close as possible to the Earth - June 2, 2024. On this day, it can even be seen in the night sky.