Historical maximum comet closer to Earth

Recently the space telescope "Hubble" sent a new picture of interstellar comets 2I/Borisov, outdoor Russian Amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov in August 2019. The gravity of the comet is not associated with the Sun, and in September, the minor planet Center has recognized its first open interstellar comet.

The point of closest approach to the Sun (perihelion), the comet took place on 8 December, and the maximum approach to the Earth (289,9 million km) is scheduled for today, December 28.

Yet to see interstellar wanderer in Amateur telescope, but a few months later the brightness will fall so that the comet can only be seen in professional telescopes, and only until the end of 2020.

Astronomers were able to calculate the trajectory of the comet: before getting into the Solar system speed was 32 km/s, within its limits, it increases due to the attraction of the Sun. It is the path resembling a straight line, not an ellipse, prove that the comet interstellar visitor. She visited us from the constellation Cassiopeia in the Northern hemisphere, and the way it runs in the southern hemisphere — the constellation of the Telescope.

What is she a star system? It's impossible to figure out, since any error in the measurement of the orbital parameters will give interstellar distances is a huge area, and the internal processes of the comet complicate these calculations.

Comet Borisov is the second known to us interstellar object after an asteroid Omwamwi discovered 2 years ago. Then the discovery rocked the astronomical community, previously so close substance from other planetary systems have not been observed. However, the asteroid is not so easy to observe, unlike the comet, which is actively losing substance as approach to the Sun, and surrounded by a coma (the cloud of ice, dust and other particles) with a size of 160 thousand km Of the coma is not yet possible to accurately estimate the size of the nucleus, presumably, it is from 200 to 500 m.

In late September, the scientists conducted measurements of the spectrum were detected cyanide, water, carbon, immanent and comets of the Solar system. Thus, all the observations of the composition of comets has not been identified interstellar features, only the trajectory of the comet Borisov is distinguished from all others.

To catch up with the wanderer and explore it up close would be incredible luck for astronomy, but its speed does not leave any chance of such attempt. To "catch" you would have to launch a probe into the missile, the Falcon Heavy no later than July 2018 — a year before the opening of Gennady Borisov.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»