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A Gigantic Comet approaches the Sun on Jan.31

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A gigantic comet is heading towards the Sun on Jan.31, 2023, according to Livescience.com. This Machholz 1 is more than two-thirds of the height of Mount Everest in size. Its size will protect it from complete evaporation when near the Sun. The 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) wide space iceball called 96p/Machholz 1 is considered to have come from somewhere outside of our solar system. This huge comet is being monitored by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. It heads to the inside of the orbit of Mercury.

In 2008, “an analysis of the material shed by 150 comets found that 96P/Machholz 1 contained less than 1.5% of the expected levels of the chemical cyanogen while also being low in carbon that leads astronomers to conclude that it could be an interloper from another alien solar system. it was discovered on 1986 May 12 by D.E. Machholz observing with 29×130 binoculars from Loma Prieta, California (Machholz, Morris & Hale 1986) and confirmed the following days by S. Morris and A. Hale observing from near Mt Wilson, California.

This icy interloper’s closest approach to the sun will come on Tuesday (Jan. 31, 2023), and it will be three times closer than Mercury in distance. SOHO has observed more than 3,000 comets since its December 1995 launch, and the spacecraft’s primary mission is to observe the sun for violent eruptions or solar flares that lead to geomagnetic storms on Earth. Scientists have alerted that these geomagnetic storms would bring our planet’s magnetic field disruption of satellites’ functionality. It leads to our internet dysfunction as well.

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