The devil’s comet is coming

Devil’s comet, as they call cryovolcanic comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, has a diameter of 30 kilometers and orbits the Sun for 71 years.

Although the first sightings were recorded as early as the 14th century, it is named after the French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons who discovered it in 1812 and the British-American astronomer William Roberts Brooks who observed it during the next flyby in 1883.

A comet has a solid core, and it is filled with a mixture of ice, dust and gas, known as cryomagma. Surrounding the core is a cloud of gas called a coma, which leaks from the interior of the planet.

When solar radiation heats the comet’s interior, pressure builds and the comet has a powerful eruption in which it ejects its icy interior into space through cracks in the core’s envelope. The comet then acquires a kind of horns, which is why it is called the Devil’s Comet. In addition, after two eruptions this summer, it resembled the famous “Millennium Falcon”, a spaceship from “Star Wars”.

• The comet should reach magnitude 4.5 in the coming weeks and will be visible from the UK. The best visibility is expected on March 31