Volcanic Ice Comet with a diameter of 60 km has violently erupted over 1 million tons of gas, ice, and potential building blocks of life throughout the inner solar system.
According to Live Science, this is a particularly volatile comet named 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann (29P), which takes about 14.9 years to orbit the Sun and is identified as the most active comet in our solar system.
NASA states that 29P is one of about 100 “Centaur” comets that have been pushed from the Kuiper Belt, a region filled with icy comets and asteroids at the “edge” of the solar system, far beyond the orbit of Neptune, into a region closer to the Sun.
It has now ventured deep into the solar system, primarily wandering in the area between Jupiter and Neptune.
Infrared image capturing an explosive sublimation event of 29P as it flies near the Sun – (Image: NASA)
A new study arose from amateur astronomer Patric Wiggins accidentally observing a significant increase in brightness of 29P. Subsequent observations helped the British Astronomical Association (BAA) conclude that it had just undergone a strong outburst, similar to a volcanic eruption.
However, unlike a volcano, comet 29P ejects a mass of cold gas, ice, and especially the building blocks of life—also “packaged” in frost.
The estimated amount of material released by this eruption is over 1 million tons, marking an unusual outburst in the world of comets. According to the BAA, the tail from the eruption extends up to 56,000 km.
According to NASA, “cryomagma”—a special form of “magma” from the comet—of 29P primarily consists of carbon monoxide, nitrogen gas, some icy solids, and liquid hydrocarbons, “which may have provided some raw materials for the formation of life on Earth.”
This statement stems from numerous previous studies indicating that similar comets and asteroids are the “life ships” that seeded primordial Earth billions of years ago. Many primitive biological structures have been identified in similar ancient objects.
