The devils comet is approaching Earth

Image courtesy of Comet Chasers/Richard Miles

Joel Kontinen 

 

The massive volcanic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, “which grows giant horns when it erupts, has exploded for a third time in five months as it continues to race toward the sun.”

It is called the "devil" comet's 12P/Pons-Brooks (12P), is a cryovolcanic, or cold volcano, comet. Like all comets, it is has a hard shell a hard, icy shell filled with ice, gas and dust — that is surrounded by a fuzzy cloud, or coma made of materials that leak out of the comet's insides. 

Many comets have elliptical paths that bring them very close to the sun. A comet loses much of its material each time it approaches the sun.  It has been estimated that a comet will loose all its mass in under 100 000 years. This is a serious problem for the secular view of a 4.6 billion year old solar system. If the solar system were that old, we should not see any comets.

 Source:

Harry Baker, 2023, Volcanic 'devil comet' racing toward Earth resprouts its horns after erupting again Live Science 8 November.