Washington [USA], June 2: Astronomers and stargazers around the globe are anxiously awaiting the return of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks , nicknamed the " Devil Comet ", today (June 2), according to CNN.
In a few hours, the infamous comet will come closest to earth, about 230 million km from our planet. This is the closest approach of the "evil comet" since 1954.
12P/Pons-Brooks takes about 71 years to complete an orbit around the sun, meaning the probability that people on Earth can observe this celestial object is once in a lifetime, if they are lucky.
If you miss this opportunity, the next appearance of the "evil comet" will be in the 2090s.
Initially, it took two generations of astronomers to successfully observe the "evil comet", first thanks to French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons in the 1810s and secondly by French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons in the 1810s. English scholar William Robert Brooks in the 1880s.
The "evil comet" is also larger in size than most other comets. Its diameter is estimated to be about 29 - 30.5 km, which is 10 to 15 times larger than an average comet.
Astronomers are closely following the comet's journey to Earth in hopes of discovering more information such as its rotation speed. The rotation frequency of 12P/Pons-Brooks while rushing through space is 57 hours, which is longer than usual. And researchers want to find out why there is that difference.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper