The largest comet discovered in modern times, it is among the most distant comets to be discovered with a coma, which means ice within the comet is vaporizing and forming an envelope of dust and vapor around the comet’s core.
University of Maryland astronomers discovered that comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is among the most distant active comets from the sun, providing key information about its composition.The largest comet ever discovered became active much farther from the sun than previously believed, according to a new study by University of Maryland astronomers.Only one other active comet—meaning one that has formed an envelope of dust and vapor known as a coma—has been observed farther from the sun; however, it was much smaller than comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein (BB), which at 100 km in diameter dwarfs every other known comet by a hefty margin.The finding, which will help astronomers determine what BB is made of and provide insight into conditions that existed billions of years ago during the formation of our solar system, was published on November 29, 2021, in The Planetary Science Journal.“These observations are pushing the distances for active comets dramatically farther than we have previously known,” said Tony Farnham, a research scientist in the UMD Department of Astronomy and the lead author of the study.It captured the bright nucleus of the comet but did not have high-enough resolution to reveal the envelope of dust and vapor that forms when the comet becomes active.
But because comets move, he had to layer the images so that comet BB was precisely aligned in each frameP
That technique removed any errant specks from individual shots while amplifying the image of the comet, which allowed researchers to see the hazy glow of dust surrounding BB, proof that BB had a coma and was active.
Bauer, 29 November 2021, The Planetary Science Journal.
November 29, 2021
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