McNaught: The Greatest Comet of the past 58 years

Описание: In 2007, the comet of the greatest magnitude in the last 40 years was observed, but it had little impact on the media of the time.
The McNaught comet had traveled for millions of years, originating directly from the theoretical Oort cloud.
The Oort cloud is A theoretical cloud of icy planetesimals thought to surround the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 AU.
It is believed to be the primary source of most long-period comets that enter the inner Solar System.
Despite traveling towards Earth for tens of thousands of years, the comet remained undiscovered until August 7, 2006 when it was discovered and named by the Scottish-Australian astronomer Robert McNaught.
In early 2007, Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught became the brightest comet visible from Earth in 40 years.
The Ulysses spacecraft passed through the comet's ionized gas tail in 2007, taking 18 days to traverse the shocked solar wind surrounding the comet.
It was the largest comet ever measured.
The comet reached its closest approach to Earth (perigee) on January 15, 2007, at a distance of 0.82 AU.
After passing the Sun, McNaught became visible in the Southern Hemisphere and reached its theoretical peak in brightness just after sunset, when it would have been visible for just 23 minutes.
Paradoxically, its proximity to Earth and the Sun did not allow us to observe it easily despite being very close to us.
​​The comet came suddenly and briefly, and so it departed leaving an unsettling feeling among astronomers who had only become aware of its existence five months prior.
Will humanity be able to survive and see this comet with the naked eye again?

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