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Scientists from UCLA recently measured the largest comet astronomers have ever seen using NASA's Hubble Space telescope. Comet C/2014 UN271 is between 80 and 85...
But don’t lose sleep — we’re in no danger, UCLA professor David Jewitt assures.
C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) was discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. With a diameter of approximately 80 miles across, the comet is about 50 times larger than typical comets and its 500 trillion ton mass is a hundred thousand times greater than a typical comet found much closer to the Sun.
A comet with a nucleus larger than the state of Rhode Island is heading our way, but Earth is in no danger of a "Don't Look Up" situation, astronomers say.
Scientists used Hubble Space Telescope images to confirm Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein has a nucleus about 50 times larger than the average known comet.