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C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli–Bernstein)
Largest known Oort cloud comet / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli–Bernstein), simply known as C/2014 UN271 or Comet Bernardinelli–Bernstein (nicknamed BB),[3] is a large Oort cloud comet discovered by astronomers Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey.[11][2] When first imaged in October 2014, the object was 29 AU (4.3 billion km; 2.7 billion mi) from the Sun, almost as far as Neptune's orbit and the greatest distance at which a comet has been discovered.[12] With a nucleus diameter of at least 120 km (75 mi), it is the largest Oort cloud comet known. It is approaching the Sun and will reach its perihelion of 10.9 AU (just outside of Saturn's orbit) in January 2031.[7] It will not be visible to the naked eye because it will not enter the inner Solar System.[lower-alpha 7]
![]() Color composite image of C/2014 UN271 by the Hubble Space Telescope on 28 March 2022 | |
Discovery[1] | |
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Discovered by |
|
Discovery date | 20 October 2014 (first discovery image) |
Designations | |
Orbital characteristics (barycentric)[4] | |
Epoch |
|
Observation arc | 8.41 yr (3,070 days) |
Earliest precovery date | 15 November 2010[3] |
Orbit type | Oort cloud |
Aphelion | ≈ 39,600 AU (inbound) ≈ 55,000 AU (outbound) |
Perihelion | 10.9502 AU (1.64 billion km)[6][lower-alpha 3] |
Semi-major axis | ≈ 19,800 AU (inbound) ≈ 27,500 AU (outbound) |
Eccentricity | 0.99945 (inbound) 0.99960 (outbound) |
Orbital period | ≈ 2.79 million yr (inbound) ≈ 4.56 million yr (outbound) |
Inclination | 95.466° (inbound) 95.460° (outbound) |
190.003° (inbound) 190.009° (outbound) | |
Argument of periapsis | 326.280° (inbound) 326.246° (outbound) |
Next perihelion | ≈ 23 January 2031[lower-alpha 4] |
TJupiter | –0.398[7] |
Jupiter MOID | 6.173 AU[7] |
Physical characteristics | |
Dimensions | a/b = 1.26±0.11[8] |
Mean diameter | 119±15[lower-alpha 5] to 137±17 km[10] |
20.6±0.2 d[8] | |
0.033±0.009 to 0.044±0.012[lower-alpha 6] | |
Comet total magnitude (M1) | 6.2±0.9[7] |
Comet nuclear magnitude (M2) | 8.63±0.11[9] |