London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

A 4 billion-year-old comet 80 miles wide is headed toward Earth

A 4 billion-year-old comet 80 miles wide is headed toward Earth

An ancient comet is hurtling towards Earth from the Oort Cloud and astronomers say that it is the largest comet we've ever discovered.

An ancient comet, believed to be over 4 billion years old is headed towards the Earth. The massive comet is at least 80 miles across, making it twice the width of Rhode Island. It’s currently speeding towards the Earth at 22,000 miles per hour.

This ancient comet is the largest ever discovered


The comet in question is currently traveling toward Earth at 22,000 miles per hour. It’s hurtling inward from the edge of our solar system. Luckily, we won’t have to worry about the comet impacting the Earth. Astronomers say it will never pass closer than 1 billion miles from the Sun. That’s a little farther than the distance between the Earth and Saturn.

The ancient comet is expected to pass that close to the Earth sometime in 2031. That means we have a number of years before we even need to concern ourselves with this ancient celestial object. Still, it is always interesting to see when comets and asteroids are headed in our direction.

David Jewitt, a professor of planetary science and astronomy at UCLA co-authored a study on the comet. Jewitt and his fellow authors published the study in Astrophysical Journal Letters. He says that objects like this ancient comet were “evicted” from the solar system ages ago.

Jewitt says the comets then took up residence in the Oort Cloud, which is a massive gathering of far-flung comets that encircle our solar system. Other comets like this ancient comet then orbit the solar system billions of miles into deep space.

Meet Comet C/2014 UN271


A brief look at how Comet C/2014 UN271 compares to other comets we’ve discovered.


On top of making its way towards the Earth, there’s something else that makes this ancient comet so intriguing. For one, astronomers say that this comet has the largest nucleus of any comet we’ve seen thus far. They determined the size of the nucleus using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. They currently estimate the comet is as large as 85 miles across.

Comet C/2014 UN271 was first discovered by Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein. The astronomers first observed it in 2010. At that time, the ancient comet was 3 billion miles from the Sun. Now, it is less than 2 billion miles from the Sun. Jewitt says that it will continue its current loop until it eventually returns to the Oort Cloud in a few million years.

Jewitt says that this ancient comet is “big and blacker than coal.” The team estimates that the comet is roughly 500 trillion tons. That’s a hundred thousand times greater than the mass of a typical comet found closer to the Sun.

Of course, this isn’t the first extraordinary comet astronomers have discovered. Previously, NASA observed this comet and its brilliant aura. Astronomers also previously discovered a comet in a place they’d never seen one before.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×