will this lead to end of life? will it collide or something like that? where did it suddenly come from?
2007-11-16 03:49:34 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
No.
Comet Holmes is being described as bigger than the Sun, but what they really mean is the cloud of dust and gas that the tiny cometary body gave off has now expanded to be larger in diameter than the Sun. But it is just an extremely thin cloud that couldn't harm Earth at all, even if it did hit. Anyway, it is out past Mars and heading away.
2007-11-16 03:54:59 · answer #1 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 7⤊ 0⤋
No. The effect of 'Chinese whispers' is amazing, especially when it comes from various people who don't really grasp the science involved.
Comet 17P/Holmes, which has been known since the 1890s, is a short period comet that orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, completing one orbit roughly every seven years. In October this year it unexpectedly produced a massive outgassing event, producing a very bright cloud of dust and ice surrounding the nucleus of the comet. The comet itself is only about 3.4km across, but the cloud of gas, dust and ice has been expanding for weeks now, and is now larger than the Sun. It makes the comet a naked eye object, visible near the constellation Perseus, and it is an impressive sight through even a modest pair of binoculars.
However, it is entirely harmless. The dust cloud, known as the coma, is so thin as to be almost nonexistent. It may be bigger than the Sun, but there is considerably less material there than is even present in most asteroids. It's just very widely spread and reflective enough that it is highly visible. It also happens to be travelling almost directly away from us.
2007-11-16 03:58:51 · answer #2 · answered by Jason T 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Enough of the other posters answered your question correctly where I don't have to repeat what they said. Two things remain to be said:
1. a meteorite, by definition is a meteor that has landed on earth. How can you have a sun sized object sitting on earth?
2. if something solid is larger than the sun, it would be a sun. During accretion, Once a body achieves a certain mass compression will cause the interior temperature to reach very high temperatures. At a certain point you have the initiation of nuclear fusion, and the body becomes a star. So it is impossible to have a meteor larger than the sun.
2007-11-16 04:17:30 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
They have already calculated the situation with that comet. It is not a threat.
There's always the possibility of many objects hitting the earth but NASA has been documenting all the objects near us for the past 8 years, so its unlikely. So far no significantly large objects threaten us. They do believe that a asteroid will fly quite close in 2029 or so. But through computer calculations they have found out it will not hit the planet. Though after it flys by it might come back in 10 years or so. (They haven't calculated that yet since there is a lack of information)
Also in the 2020 ranges NASA will be taking steps to build equipment that would be able to redirect objects coming towards the earth so that it does not hit the planet.
No worries.
2007-11-16 04:05:28 · answer #4 · answered by Christian S 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Eris, the largest dwarf planet known, was discovered in an ongoing survey at Palomar Observatory's Samuel Oschin telescope by astronomers Mike Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory), and David Rabinowitz (Yale University). We officially suggested the name on 6 September 2006, and it was accepted and announced on 13 September 2006.
2016-05-23 10:01:22 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it's just comet Holmes in our solar system who's dust and gas cloud's diameter is bigger than our sun's diameter, by about .008 of a million kilometers. It's on the yahoo news if you're really that interested. Btw, Comet Holmes is relatively small. :)
2007-11-16 04:09:39 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That is not true. It is the coma of comet 17P/Holmes that has expanded to a size slightly over the size of the sun. The coma is just gas so its mass if not a threat to anyone. The comet itself is not so big and it is not on a collision course with earth. If there was a meteorite as large as the sun we wouldn´t have to worry about it colliding with us. Everything in the solarsystem would collide with it as its mass would be many times greater than the whole solarsystem.
2007-11-16 03:59:40 · answer #7 · answered by DrAnders_pHd 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
A meteorite larger than the sun would therefore have more mass than our sun.
This mass would cause enough central (core) pressure and temperature for fission.
The rate of fission depends only on pressure and temperature: this object would be brighter than the sun.
I observe every night (when it does not rain or snow) and I have not seen a second sun yet.
2007-11-16 04:00:34 · answer #8 · answered by Raymond 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
its a comet. a meteorite is what remains after its crashed into the earth.
its just a standard comet that passes thru every now and then and blows dust out. its done it before and will probably come back and do it again. its dust cloud is bigger than the sun, thats all.
2007-11-16 03:58:28 · answer #9 · answered by grg1998 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
No,it isn't true.There is nothing even remotely close to the size of our sun.A comet has been observed that went from a few miles wide to appearing to be 8,000 miles wide,but no one is even suggesting that it is solid,simply "outgassing"
2007-11-16 03:57:05 · answer #10 · answered by reporters should die 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋