In pictures, the amazing burst of activity of one of the strangest comets in the solar system

29P / Schwasmann security guard, formerly known as Schwassmann-Wachmann 1, is a . file comet periodical of solar system, was discovered on November 15, 1927 by Astronomy scientists Germans Friedrich Karl Arnold Schwasmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann at the observatory in Hamburg, Germany. This comet is more accurate centauri Energetic. A centaur is a small body in the “giants region” between Jupiter And Neptune, and 29p in this case a orbiting Slightly eccentric (0.04) located slightly far from Jupiter (6 astronomical units for a comet for 5.2 astronomical units for the planet). Active, means it sometimes shows a file comet activity, meaning a hair and/or a a queue.

This comet, whose core is about 60 kilometers in diameter, is unusual: in normal times, it is around Magnitude 16, but several times a year suddenly bursts of activity making it brighter within a few hours by 1 to 5 degrees (ie 2.5 to 100 times brighter), before returning to brightness Usually within a week or two.

29P I have a phone Explosion of activity At the end of September, it surrounded it with a “crust” of dust that has spread and has since dissipated, as can be seen below in Video posted by Terry Lovejoy on October 5. This video shows the comet’s evolution between September 28 and October 5. In the last image, the dust crust is about 200,000 kilometers in diameter, nearly one and a half times the diameter of Jupiter.