A team of scientists from the British Astronomical Association (BAA) recorded a bright flash of the giant cryovolcanic comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, which had four eruptions in 48 hours.
Comet 29P is an icy object with a diameter of 60 kilometers. It is part of the so-called “centaurs” – a group of about 500 comets that do not leave the boundaries of the Solar System.
According to astronomers, during the eruptions, 29P began to shine 289 times brighter than its usual brightness. The effect is due to a powerful ejection of cryomagma, a mixture of ice, dust and gas that bursts through the comet’s envelope under the influence of solar radiation.
Cryomagma expands the comet’s reflective cloud, called a coma, he reports Noi.md with reference to .
Scientists noted that the latest explosions on 29P were the strongest in two years.
Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann remains a mystery to space researchers. The object rotates around the Sun every 15 years in a circular orbit, absorbing a constant amount of solar radiation.
This means that 29P should erupt regularly and uniformly, but the comet’s explosions are not predictable. Specialists believe that the cryovolcanic activity of the celestial body is influenced by an unknown factor.
