Astronomers with Las Cumbres Observatory have captured a new image of the recently-discovered giant comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein).
This image of comet C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) was taken by the Las Cumbres Observatory 1-m telescope at Sutherland, South Africa, on June 22, 2021; the diffuse cloud is the comet’s coma. Image credit: LOOK project, Las Cumbres Observatory.
Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is named after two University of Pennsylvania astronomers, Pedro Bernardinelli and Professor Gary Bernstein, who spotted it in archival images from the Dark Energy Survey.
Also known as C/2014 UN271, the comet is estimated to be between 100 and 200 km across, or about 10 times the diameter of most solar system comets.
Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is not expected to become naked-eye bright: it will remain a telescopic object because its closest distance to the Sun will still be beyond Saturn. It will reach its closest approach to the Sun in January 2031.
“Since the new object was far in the south and quite faint, we knew there wouldn’t be many other telescopes that could observe it,” said Dr. Tim Lister, an astronomer at Las Cumbres Observatory.
“Fortunately, Las Cumbres Observatory has a network of robotic telescopes across the world, particularly in the southern hemisphere, and we were able to quickly get images from the Las Cumbres Observatory telescopes in South Africa.”
The new images of comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein were captured by one of Las Cumbres Observatory’s 1-m telescopes hosted at the South African Astronomical Observatory on June 22, 2021.
Members of the Las Cumbres Observatory Outbursting Objects Key (LOOK) project from New Zealand were the first to notice the comet.
The analysis of the new images showed a fuzzy coma around the object, indicating that it was active and was indeed a comet.
“Since we’re a team based all around the world, it just happened that it was my afternoon, while the other folks were asleep,” said Dr. Michele Bannister, an astronomer at the University of Canterbury.
“The first image had the comet obscured by a satellite streak and my heart sank.”
“But then the others were clear enough and gosh: there it was, definitely a beautiful little fuzzy dot, not at all crisp like its neighboring stars!”
