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- The earth has had a fiery companion at its side for a few weeks now.
- Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks flies past Earth every 71 years, and now it’s that time again.
- The comet can still be seen with the naked eye in good lighting conditions until the beginning of April.
The comet was discovered in July 1812 by Jean-Louis Pons at the Marseille Observatory and then later rediscovered by William Robert Brooks in 1883.
On X, users are busy sharing pictures of the comet.
A comet or tail star is a small celestial body, usually a few kilometers in diameter, which develops a coma caused by outgassing in the parts of its orbit close to the sun and usually also a glowing tail (light trail).
Legend:
12P/Pons-Brooks is one of the brightest known periodic comets, with an absolute brightness of approximately 5 magnitude when it reaches perihelion.
imago images/Christian Grube
Like asteroids, comets are remnants of the formation of the solar system and consist of ice, dust and loose rock. They formed in the outer, cold regions of the solar system (mainly beyond the orbit of Neptune), where the abundant hydrogen and carbon compounds resublimated to form ice.
agencies/hosb;kesm
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