Giant comet heading for Earth @NextAnimationNews

Uploaded August 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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RESTRICTIONS: Broadcast: NO USE JAPAN, NO USE TAIWAN Digital: NO USE JAPAN, NO USE TAIWAN
An enormous comet from the Oort Cloud that surrounds the solar system is heading towards our part of the solar system. Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is a thousand times larger than the average comet and it's approaching at a high rate of speed.

RUNDOWN SHOWS:
1. Show giant comet passing by Uranus at high speed
2. Zoom into comet as speck of light among stars, size comparison to the UK
3. Animated route of comet from outer solar system to around sun to out of solar system
4. Zoom out to show massive orbit of comet compared to solar system
5. Show comet's orbit turning in the Oort Cloud, zoom out to show whole Oort Cloud around outer regions of solar system
6. Animated view of comet's tail positions in relation to the sun as it curves around the sun

VOICEOVER (in English):
Live Science reports that a huge comet that's so large it's classified as a "minor planet" has been spotted beyond Uranus and is coming toward Earth for a very rare visit in 2031.

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is still far away and hard to see, but the current estimate is that its icy core is around 100 kilometers in diameter, which is extremely large for a comet.

It'll make its closest approach in 2031, when it'll sail just outside of the orbit of our sun's sixth planet, Saturn.

Normal long-period comets take more than 200 years to complete an orbit around the Sun, but this one is estimated to take a whopping 5.5 million years to complete its orbit.

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein comes from the Oort Cloud, a spherical cloud of icy objects framing our solar system at around 50,000 to 100,000 Astronomical Units from the Sun, that's 100,000 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.

Scientists estimate this comet could itself be from as far away as 60,000 times the distance from Earth to the Sun.

Like all comets, this one will round the Sun and head off back to where it came from.

SOURCES: Live Science, Forbes, EarthSky.org, Astronomy.com
livescience.com/new-comet-orbit-toward-earth.html
forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2021/06/24/mega-comet-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-mysterious-ice-monster-from-half-a-light-year-away/?sh=7effa552c23c
earthsky.org/space/2014-un271-mega-comet-discovery
astronomy.com/news/2021/07/giant-comet-found

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